Blind Side
by thief-nim
Summary: He's just Sasuke, a terribly nearsighted boy with secrets that even he doesn't know about. He has no family he knows of, and when he gets talents and abilities he never should, Sasuke starts looking for answers to previously unasked questions. .:jinchuuriki!Sasuke:.
1. Enter: Sasuke

.: Hi, hello, as of January 2018, this author's note is different.

This fic is _old_ , like almost a decade old. I always come back to it though because I love the idea of role reversals. I started writing it because I didn't like the other jinchuuriki!Sasuke fics that floated around FFN at the time.

Now, what I _could_ do is post the chapters as is. There would definitely be a lot more up than there are right now. I'm not doing that though because they suck. Instead, you'll get an update when life is kind to me. We'll aim for once a month, but I'm a busy clock, and this is a hobby. I work on some aspect of the story at least once a week, but that might not be drafting. It could be filling in the timeline, developing techniques, or further developing lore.

And on that note, I fully expect to annoy some people with this plot and how I choose to write some characters. We're still visiting the Land of Waves, and we're still taking part in the Chunin Exams, but the devil is in the details. I have no intention of sticking to canon.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. :.

* * *

Large windows let the early morning light into the kitchen area of a two-bedroom apartment. Sitting at a square dining table, Sasuke quietly picked at his breakfast.

Today… Sasuke sighed to himself, heavy and drawn out. Today was important. While he wouldn't admit to being nervous about it, he _would_ admit to being overly contemplative, and while most would say that there was no difference between the two, Sasuke would pointedly disagree… if he could work up the confidence to do so out loud. Regardless, today was important, and he had every right to be contemplative— _not nervous_ —about it.

Sasuke sighed once more and leaned over, securing his sandals for the umpteenth time that morning. He stood up from the table, grabbing the bag sitting next to his barely touched meal.

"I can do this," he said quietly, nodding to reassure himself as best as he possibly could. "It's nothing I haven't done before." He opened the door to leave the apartment, calling out to his roommate. "I'm heading to the Academy, Toshio!"

"Already?" a teen with messy white hair poked his head out of one of the doors curiously. When Sasuke nodded, Toshio came out of his bedroom, pouting purposefully as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "You should've woken me up, I wanted to make you breakfast."

"It's alright." A small smile slipped onto Sasuke's face. "You got in late last night, you deserved to sleep in." He shrugged casually, "Besides, I'm not that hungry."

Toshio's pout morphed into a displeased frown, "How are you supposed to mold chakra if you don't have any energy?" Sasuke opened his mouth to reassure his roommate, but he was swiftly cut off when Toshio noticed his plate on the table. "You barely even ate anything, Sasuke!"

Sasuke closed the door to their apartment silently. Toshio huffed in annoyance as he walked over to the fridge, muttering under his breath. "Yeah, you _better_ shut that door. You shouldn't be skipping breakfast before an exam." He took three miniature cartons of milk out of the fridge, and closed the door roughly. Sitting down at the table, he put a carton of milk next to Sasuke's unfinished meal. Receiving the message loud and clear, Sasuke sat back down at the table, his bag left at the door.

Toshio stabbed a straw into his first carton of milk. "You know, that annoying old lady who used to check on us is _still_ on my case about your weight. That's why she doesn't just have the monthly allowance added to my account. She makes me come in person just to tell me how you're not gaining enough weight between health exams." He rolled his eyes, "'s not _my_ fault your metabolism is faster than a body flicker."

Sasuke finished his breakfast quietly, an amused smile on his face. He knew that Toshio was only running his mouth because he was worried. In contrast, Sasuke wasn't worried at all… he was contemplative. Looking down, Sasuke rotated his wrists experimentally. He frowned. His wrist guards were getting more than a little old. Toshio had already promised to replace them, but Sasuke was more than glad they'd already done the graduation spars the day before. He was rather… contemplative about how his guards would hold up.

"For real though, Sasuke," Toshio said, locking eyes with the younger boy when he looked back up. "If you fail, there's gonna be hell to pay for the both of us." He frowned, moving his straw from the first carton to the second. "She still thinks it's my fault you were out with the flu the week Iruka had to decide last year's recommendations for early graduation."

"I'll do my best," Sasuke said, shrugging helplessly, "I can't really promise you anything more than that."

"I know," Toshio waved Sasuke's words off with an absent-minded nod. Reaching across the table, Toshio gave the dark spikes at the back of Sasuke's head a thorough rustling. At the petulant look he received in return, he grinned softly, "Just don't fail, okay, Sasuke? You can do that for me, right?"

Sasuke frowned as he fixed his hair. He pushed up his glasses and gave Toshio a pointed look, "I don't exactly plan on failing, Toshio."

Toshio shook his head, chuckling, "You never do, Sasuke." At the blank look he received in return, Toshio gave another grin in reply. He put his hand on Sasuke's head, "Good luck today. I'm sure you're going to kick ass."

A flicker of a smile graced Sasuke's lips, "Thanks, Toshio."

:: ::

One by one, Sasuke watched his classmates go in and come out of the testing room. Some proudly displayed joy and new forehead protectors, while others came out with sorrow and empty hands.

Despite the conflicting emotions he saw, Sasuke couldn't say that any of that affected how he felt about taking the exam. There wasn't anything he could change now to help his chances of passing, and to be completely honest, Sasuke didn't think he _needed_ to do anything else. He understood his current abilities, and he knew that they would be enough for him to pass in the upper half of the class. Sure, he wouldn't be Rookie of the Year, but Sasuke had never really been gunning for the top spot anyway.

The door to the testing room opened once more, and a boy with platinum blond hair and bright blue eyes walked out, a smug grin on his face and a blue forehead protector tied into his messy hair. Sasuke rolled his eyes when the boy received a high-five from another. It wasn't a surprise. Of course, the other boy had ended up passing: He was the Hokage's son. It would have been a surprise if he _didn't_ pass.

Now that Sasuke thought about it though, was it even possible for Namikaze Naruto to fail at anything? Despite his evident skill, on the off chance that there was something Naruto _couldn't_ do, would the blatant favoritism still take place? After all, he was never reprimanded in class when he cracked jokes that would have left anyone else being chewed out by their instructors.

Sasuke had realized it early on, and he was in no way bitter about it. It was just a wonder why shinobi couldn't be more discreet. Sasuke's Academy career had been pleasantly spent in the background of things, and while he was in the background, he had noticed that there were two blonds who constantly had everyone else's attention.

Yamanaka Ino and Namikaze Naruto had enough personality for the entire village, and they were the top students in the class. It seemed like everyone in the Academy wanted to either be them or be with them, as weird as the latter one was for a bunch of twelve year olds. Again, Sasuke wasn't bitter; he enjoyed being out of people's sight. It made it easier for him to focus on his own performance. He was silent and successful, and Sasuke found nothing wrong with that. Sure, his teamwork and communication grade was lacking, but that was hardly something he was concerned about in the grand scheme of things.

"Sasuke." He looked up at the chunin instructor standing by the door. "It's your turn."

Sasuke nodded, and he stood up from his desk. If anyone had watched him as he walked towards the door, he wouldn't have noticed. With each step Sasuke took, the severity of the test he was about to take became more prevalent in his mind. Sasuke walked into the testing room without hesitation, but by the time he realized what exactly was about to happen, Sasuke came to the conclusion that he _really_ didn't want to fail.

"Okay, Sasuke," one of the instructors, Mizuki, said, "what we're looking for here is a transformation, a replacement, and a standard clone."

"Alright…" Sasuke nodded. It should be easy enough for him to do. Before beginning though, he took a moment to think about how exactly he was going to execute the techniques.

When he was ready, Sasuke made the seal for a transformation, concentrating his chakra acutely, and a puff of smoke appeared. When it dissipated, standing in Sasuke's place was Mizuki. With a mental nod at the first portion of his exam done, Sasuke concentrated his chakra once more, and four puffs of smoke appeared, revealing two more doppelgangers for Mizuki, an Iruka doppelganger, and a doppelganger of the Fourth Hokage _._ With a mental pat on the back for layering a transformation onto his clones, it took one more concentration of chakra for five puffs of smoke to appear, engulfing the front of the room. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was Sasuke's evaluation paper, floating to the floor.

"How did he…?" Mizuki looked down at the blank space before him.

" _Where_ did he go?" the second instructor, Iruka, asked quietly, barely attempting to hide his surprise at how well the successive techniques were executed.

Sasuke's voice projected out of the wall behind the two instructors, "I'm right here." He stepped out from a corner made up of walls of a length that was slightly shorter only if one examined it closely, dropping the transformation technique which hid his body from the instructors. Stifling the pleased smile which wanted to take over his countenance because he _knew_ that he had done a great job, Sasuke instead pushed up his slipping glasses, casting the two chunin instructors an unsure look, wanting them to confirm his thoughts. "How did I do?"

"There were a few who did better than you," Mizuki said, swiftly denying Sasuke the satisfaction he wanted. "However, you did pass."

Resisting the urge to visibly droop at the answer, Sasuke instead frowned at his (soon to be former) instructor's words. He had executed his techniques _perfectly_. He even had a transformed clone switch with Mizuki's paper so it could simply release and he could hide! Of course, Sasuke knew that he wasn't the best student in the class—he wasn't arrogant enough to assume that—but did that many people _really_ do that much better than he did? After a quick moment spent telling himself that yes, he _did_ have every right to be upset about the dismissal of his skills, Sasuke posed his next question more hesitantly than the last. "Uh, am I allowed to ask who did better than me?"

"No," Mizuki replied curtly.

"Mizuki, you shouldn't have told him that in the first place," Iruka came to Sasuke's rescue like always, chiding his fellow instructor. "His reaction is the exact reason why we _don't_ discuss the results of their peers with them." He then gave Sasuke a reassuring smile and said, "You don't need to worry about whoever did better than you, Sasuke-kun. You did extremely well for someone who isn't from a ninja clan, and that is most definitely something that you should be proud of."

"Ah, thank you, Sensei," Sasuke nodded, and a slight flush crawled up his cheeks at the words of praise he'd been hoping to hear earlier. He accepted his forehead protector, but his didn't put it on in an excited flurry like most before him. He instead pocketed it and walked out of the room, still wondering what it was about his technique execution that was so obviously below some of his classmates.

:: ::

The final bell for the Academy rang, and the now former students poured out of the building, all the graduates eager to report to their family members waiting for them. Parents were there for their children, proud grins if their child passed and consoling hugs if remedial lessons were needed. Sasuke spared a glance to see if the Hokage was brightly congratulating his son with his wife, the picture of the perfect family, but he was mildly surprised to see the Hokage's son walking away from the Academy by himself. He shrugged and moved on, knowing that no one would be out there waiting for him. Bypassing the crowd of people entirely, Sasuke headed towards his tree.

Technically, it was Academy property, but Sasuke considered it his. It was the largest tree in the Academy yard, full of braches that he could conveniently hide himself in. Toshio had introduced him to his tree when he had first entered the Academy, and he had been instructed to go to the tree at the end of the day and wait until he was collected by someone. Sasuke had faithfully gone his tree every day, and he had been met by not only Toshio, but also some of Toshio's old teammates and other acquaintances whenever Toshio couldn't make an appearance because of missions. The older he got, Sasuke knew it was odd that he was still being picked up by someone, but he kind of liked it. The thought of someone caring enough to make sure he got home safely was a comforting thought.

As he stood before his tree, Sasuke wore a tiny frown on his face. He had grown somewhat attached to it, and now that he was out of the Academy, it would be weird not coming to it every day. He put a hand up to the bark of the tree, "I think I'm actually going to miss you…"

"Sasuke-chan?" Sasuke turned around to see a teenager with clear white eyes and long, loosely braided, dark brown hair coming up to him.

"Yuuma-san," he replied, faintly annoyed at the honorific that was _still_ being paired with his name. He was getting a little too old for it, but Yuuma would never give it up.

"Sasuke-chan," Hyuuga Yuuma gave him a kind smile, "Congratulations on your graduation."

"Thanks, Yuuma," Sasuke pushed up his glasses as he hid a small but proud smile.

Yuuma offered his bandaged hand to him as they began walking, "You know, I wish you had taken the test last year. You could have ended up on my baby cousin's team. It's a pity you were sick."

Sasuke accepted the hand on autopilot, not replying. Yuuma still saw him as a toddler, and the hand holding would happen whether or not he wanted it to. He was past being embarrassed by Yuuma, who was surprisingly touchy for a Hyuuga. He had his limits, but around people he knew well, all bets were off in regards to how much skinship Yuuma would initiate. With his "precious baby cousin," Yuuma would do anything from idly braiding his hair to carrying him around bridal style despite said baby cousin's protests.

"Neji wouldn't have minded; he respects you," Yuuma continued on. "Although there's _supposed_ to be at least one girl on each team, you could easily pass for the fairer sex." Yuuma gave him a conspiratory wink.

Sasuke's face flushed even more if possible, "… I am _not_ a girl…"

"You could fool anyone," Yuuma replied easily, smirking slightly. "Remember, Neji even thought so himself when he first met you."

Oh, Sasuke remembered. The Neji he had met years earlier had yet to mellow out under his older cousin's influence and had flat out refused to play shinobi with a girl that was destined to be weaker than him. Even after Neji had realized his mistake, he hadn't let up in his judgment of Sasuke until the younger boy had managed to hit him with multiple plastic shuriken.

They'd been best friends by the end of the day.

As nice as the memory was, Sasuke didn't need another reminder of his supposed femininity. He looked up at Yuuma imploringly, tacking on an honorific in hopes that the elder would be more willing to listen to him, "Yuuma-san…"

"Okay, I'll stop," Yuuma conceded with a chuckle. As they turned down another street, he changed topics, "Toshio said that he's sorry he couldn't come get you today. Lord Hokage summoned him when he was getting the apartment ready."

Sasuke frowned in reply. "Does he have another mission?"

"Worried he'll miss the rest of your big day, Sasuke-chan?" Yuuma simpered, clear eyes shining with amusement.

"Not at all," Sasuke huffed in reply. "He just got back late last night…"

"This morning," Yuuma corrected absently, the apartment complex steadily coming into view. "We pushed it so Toshio could make it in time to see you off."

"Oh," Sasuke said quietly. He looked away, suddenly finding the small flowers peeking through the last remnants of snow incredibly interesting. "You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, we did," Yuuma corrected with a laugh. "Toshio wouldn't shut up about how excited he was for you to graduate on the way back. Kept talking about how his baby was growing up." He smirked, "It was cute, really." Then, giving Sasuke's hand a gentle squeeze, his smirk softened into a comforting smile. "Toshio'll be at the apartment when we get there. He's even got a present for you." He winked down at Sasuke, "It's supposed to be a surprise though, so you don't know anything about it."

A small smile slipped onto Sasuke's face, "I don't know anything about it."

After casually disabling the security seal on the apartment, Yuuma gestured for Sasuke to enter before him.

Sasuke opened the door to the apartment and had to dodge within seconds as a kunai headed straight towards him. Instead, it imbedded itself into the door. The kunai seemed to set off a hail of shuriken coming towards Sasuke, so he jerked said kunai out of the door and one of his weapons pouch and attempted to the deflect them. Two came through, slicing his left calf and right forearm with thin lines, drawing the slightest bit of blood. Eyes wide, he leapt out of the way as a large rectangular box headed towards him. As the box hit the door and fell to the floor with a thud, Sasuke gave a quiet sigh as he collected himself. He looked out the door at Yuuma's amused countenance, the elder clapping at the display.

Sasuke wasn't as impressed. "He always does this, what was the surprise supposed to be?"

Before the Hyuuga could answer, Toshio burst into the living room area of their apartment with a large grin on his face. "Congratulations, Sasuke!" Cheerful green eyes then noticed the box resting next to Sasuke's feet, "Uh, Sasuke? You were supposed to catch that."

Sasuke looked down at the box, "Oh." He bent down and picked up the box. After stepping aside to let Yuuma inside, he sat down next to couch and peeled the black paper back on the box slowly, unsure if it was going to explode in his face. Lifting the lid off the wooden box, Sasuke was surprised at what was resting inside the straw fillings. He looked up at Toshio, the elder sitting leisurely on the couch with Yuuma, "Why?"

"'s not from me, Aimori and Daichi are still working on my gift," Toshio shrugged. "I found it in your room after you left this morning." He looked down at the box thoughtfully, "It came from outside of the village."

"Who left this for me?" Sasuke looked curiously at the contents of the box: a sleek wooden bow, a dark quiver and twenty-four arrows.

"Well, let's go over the check list of the people who actually _remember_ that time you said you wanted to be a legendary archer," Yuuma said with a snicker.

Sasuke flushed, "I was _six_!"

"You kept up that dream for a while though, didn't you?" Toshio asked while stroking his nonexistent goatee. "You were about ten when you gave up on becoming legendary."

The younger boy nodded, "I haven't been using my bow aside from target practice these days, and no one even remembers when I said that." He shrugged. "I don't know anyone outside the village anyway."

Toshio tilted his head to the side and gave Yuuma a pointed look. "… It could have been him," he guessed aloud.

"Ah… yeah, it probably was," Yuuma nodded, looking down at Sasuke with a strange look, almost as if he couldn't believe his own thoughts.

Sasuke looked at the other two carefully. "I'm not remembering something."

"Genin teams are made of three, Sasuke." Toshio rolled his eyes. "Yuuma and I had a teammate that you just _adored_ when you were little."

"And he adored you just as much," Yuuma said with a smirk. "No matter how serious he was around the rest of us, the guy did just about everything you asked him to." He shook his head, giving a low chuckle, "You two hit it off the second you met. Ring a bell?"

"… I think so," Sasuke said, and he blinked owlishly as he tried to remember. Despite knowing the two shinobi weren't lying to him, he couldn't place a face or a name to their teammate. He hadn't seen the man in years, and he only vaguely remembered the reason why. "He's the one that's on the really long, classified mission, right?"

"Yep, that's him!" Toshio said. He then let loose a laugh, eyes crinkling in amusement. "Do you remember the time he convinced Sayomi-sensei to let Sasuke go on that boar hunt with us?"

Yuuma rolled his eyes. "That was bad, very, very bad. The guy's a genius, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't always think things through. Sasuke was still a baby."

"I was seven!" Sasuke corrected with a slight huff. "That's not a baby!"

"If you're younger than my baby cousin, then you're a baby," Yuuma said with a firm nod.

There was a knock on the door, and before Sasuke could get up to check and see who it was, Yuuma had already opened the door. "Well, speak of the devil, and he'll come." Yuuma ruffled the hair of the person before him, "How's it going, my little screw?"

Neji batted away his cousin's hand, "Don't touch my hair."

"My apologies, Princess Neji," Yuuma gave the other a mocking bow.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Neji rolled his eyes before looking to Sasuke and nodding to him. "Congratulations on your graduation, Sasuke."

"Thanks, Neji," Sasuke said, smiling brightly at the other from his place on the ground.

"Uh, Neji?" Toshio asked. "Not that I don't want you here, but… why are you here? You don't usually frequent… well, anywhere. Gai usually runs you ragged." Sasuke knew that to be more than true. Since his friend's graduation a year earlier, Neji and Sasuke's meetings had dwindled drastically. Neji's jounin instructor was an eccentric man who never _meant_ to cause his genin major fatigue, but he ended up doing it anyway. Even on his rare days off, Neji spent them recovering.

"He was finally told by Lord Hokage that he isn't allowed to work genin teams for more than twelve hours a day." Neji informed them dryly. "We've been training since four, so he had to let us leave about half an hour ago."

"That probably didn't stop him from giving you 'suggestions' for training during the rest of the day," Yuuma said with a knowing grin. "Gai doesn't know the meaning of the words 'too much' when it comes to utilizing the power of youth."

"… Do you think there's a chance that there's another instructor like Gai-san?" Sasuke asked carefully. He wasn't opposed to large amounts of training, but he _did_ want to live to see thirteen.

Neji snorted, "I highly doubt it. That man is a one of a kind, and the only one who comes close to his type of crazy is Lee."

"With your luck, you'll get someone like Kakashi," Yuuma snorted. "If Lord Hokage's son is graduating this year, there's no reason why he can keep refusing to be assigned a team."

"Is he actually allowed to do that?" Neji asked, raising a skeptical brow.

"Well, it's a little more complicated than simply refusing to be assigned to a team, but yeah," Yuuma said with a shrug. "Kakashi's never actually had a team of genin before, and he's doing his very best to keep it that way."

"Kakashi's the one who…?" Sasuke looked to Toshio. The name was familiar, and he could have sworn he'd met the man before.

"Found me? Yeah," Toshio nodded. "He's a damn good shinobi, one of the best I've ever met, even back then. He's picked you up from your tree before, but the lazy scarecrow was usually late." He then grinned sheepishly, "I'd hate to meet him in battle though. He'd kick my ass to the next shinobi village."

"While this is a great conversation," the amount of sarcasm dripping off of Neji's words was astounding, "it's not what I'm here for." He looked to Yuuma, deadpanning, "The Elders summoned us. Again."

Ah, that explained it. Neji was on edge.

"Didn't you just go talk to your clan elders last week?" Toshio gave his friend a blatantly confused look.

"Yeah." Yuuma rolled his eyes, "This is the third time this month." He looked down at his cousin, "I'm telling you, Neji, if they want to make sure we're really afraid of them, they have to give us time to build up the fear in between visits."

Neji rolled his eyes, "What do you think it is this time?"

"Oh, probably the usual," Yuuma gave Neji a look. "We, the branch members, are succeeding too much for the Elders' liking, and they want to stifle us because we make the main family look bad. Hinata graduated today, and I'm willing to bet she didn't surpass the no clan wonder, Sasuke-chan." Sasuke made a face, but Yuuma waved at him dismissively. "Compare that to your Rookie of the Year status last year, and it doesn't make her look too good." He smirked, "I also heard that Hikaru was proposed as a jounin candidate in the last wave, and he didn't make the cut. He's almost nineteen, and here I am, a year younger, heading towards my fourth anniversary. Not exactly showing the superiority of the main family."

"I just love being blamed for other people's perceived short comings," Neji said with a sarcastically wistful sigh.

Yuuma jabbed him in the forehead, "Just be glad it's not going to be anything worse."

"I know…" Neji sighed for real this time, heavy and drawn out. "We should probably go before they send someone after us." He cast Sasuke one last glance, "Congratulations again, Sasuke. I hope your team ends up being successful." Before Sasuke could reply with his thanks, Neji slipped out the door, Yuuma following right after, leaving the remaining two with a quick goodbye.

Although the two acted like the elders of their clan meant nothing to them, Yuuma and Neji knew all too well what kind of punishment they could receive if the Elders were in the wrong mood.

:: ::

Naruto didn't know why he was walking into the administrative section of the Academy. His father was a busy man, and most of the attempts to visit him didn't go so well because Naruto's father was either in a meeting, or he had a mountain of paperwork to sift through. He continued on though, and he soon found himself walking to the front desk where a secretarial chunin was reading a book, making no move to acknowledge his presence. "… Excuse me?"

"Welcome to the Hokage's Office, how may I help you?" the chunin recited blandly as he continued to read about whatever it was that was in his book.

Naruto frowned at the blatant lack of caring, "I was wondering if the Hokage was free."

"That depends," the chunin replied, turning a page in his book. "Do you have an appointment with Lord Hokage?"

"Well, no, but—" Naruto began to explain himself, but he was cut off.

"Then Lord Hokage isn't available," the chunin replied briskly.

Oh, so this idiot was really going to play this game when he couldn't be bothered to do his job? Naruto scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief before he dryly asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," the chunin replied, turning another page in his book. "If you would like to make an appointment with Lord Hokage in the coming weeks, it is possible to do so. What's your name?"

Naruto didn't like that question. That question always seemed to lead to fake kindnesses and coddling that Naruto neither wanted nor needed. He sighed, already imagining the response from the chunin. "My name's Namikaze Naruto."

"Nami… kaze… _Naruto_?" The chunin's head shot up when he processed the words.

"Hi," Naruto gave the man a short wave and an awkward smile. His mental countdown began. Three… two…

"Honorable Son!" the chunin exclaimed.

One. Naruto internally sighed as he watched the chunin stand and bow to him, apologizing profusely for not recognizing him. Maybe if he had cared enough about his job to _look the fuck up_ when people entered the admin building, he would have noticed. However, Naruto stifled his thoughts and instead grinned sheepishly, trying to stop him from embarrassing himself even more. "No, it's okay…" There he was, a grown man, bowing to a twelve-year-old. Naruto felt embarrassed enough for the both of them.

"Really, I am _so sorry_ , Honorable Son, for not noticing you. I was just so busy working that I couldn't afford to look up," the chunin insisted. He was backpedaling so fast, Naruto was sure that he would fall on his ass if he kept it up. "You said you wanted to see your father?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. "If that's okay," he said immediately after, smiling sheepishly. "I know he's pretty busy."

"You can go right on up," the chunin assured him with a smile. "Have a _great_ day, Honorable Son!"

"Thanks, you too!" Naruto gave the man a grin and a wave before he headed up the stairs to reach his father's office. On the steps, he shoved his hands into his pockets, "Maybe you'll actually pay attention to your job now, you stupid fuck." He continued to walk down a hallway, rolling his eyes, "Probably not." He stopped his musings when he saw the office door in sight, giving cheerful grins to every shinobi he passed. When he reached the door, Naruto greeted the guards at the door with a wave. "Is he busy?"

"He's meeting with one of the Elders," Genma replied casually. "They're supposed to finish soon, so you can head in once they're done."

Naruto nodded, and leaned against the wall facing the door, chatting idly with Genma and Raido. The door to the office opened within a few minutes, and an old voice was heard, "If any of this goes wrong, it's going to be on your head, Lord Hokage."

"Yes, Danzo, I know," Naruto heard his father's voice quickly after. The man was mostly calm, but a hint of exasperation could be detected as he walked the old man out of his office. "Have a nice afternoon."

Instead of continuing on his way however, Danzo stopped when Naruto caught his eye. "You graduated today." Naruto noticed that it wasn't a question. Gods forbid he actually fucked up one of these days.

"Uh, yeah, I did." Naruto nodded, purposefully not saying much. Danzo always put him on edge when they were in the same room. The old man simply gave him the creeps.

"What was your placement in your class?" Danzo continued to scrutinize him.

"… Second," Naruto said, drooping ever so slightly when he realized that he might have actually fucked up despite successfully graduating, "to Yamanaka Ino."

"We haven't had a female be Rookie of the Year in quite some time," Danzo replied. He looked to Naruto's father, "Lord Hokage, can you recall the last time that happened?"

"Shikaku's little sister is the last one I remember," his father replied easily, but he gave Danzo a pointed look Naruto was grateful for, "You know that gender hardly matters though. All that does is what you bring to the table. Ino and Naruto have been going back and forth with each other for years, and it was up in the air as to who would perform the best during the exam. Today just happened to be Ino's day," the man said with a shrug. "Naruto's day will come as well," he nodded, sending his son a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure," Danzo replied politely. "Well, I have to be going now." Without giving any other parting call, the old man began to walk down the hallway.

"Don't worry about him, son," his father said dismissively as he led Naruto into his office. "Danzo gets more and more senile as the days go by." He then engulfed the twelve-year-old in a hug, "Congratulations on graduating," he said, the pride in his son seeping through his voice. "I wish I could have been there, but I've had meetings all day."

"It's okay," Naruto said with a casual shrug. "It was pretty anti-climactic to be honest."

"I was looking over the reports that Iruka sent in, and just between you and me," Naruto's father looked him in the eye, reassurance pouring out of his gaze, "you almost had Ino beat. The gap between you two was a lot smaller than you think it was."

"Guess I shouldn't have used my Sexy Technique as my transformation," Naruto laughed, grinning widely. Inside though, Naruto was fighting a losing battle. He had been _so_ close, yet _so_ far away from matching his father's record. It was just one more thing that his father did that he couldn't do. However, Naruto wouldn't—no, he _couldn't_ —let his disappointment show, so he kept smiling.

* * *

.: Thanks for reading! ^o^ Please let me know if this should be given time and energy or not, and feel free to give me feedback on the way I write the characters. I've always wondered how this verse would be taken by others.

 _word count: 5.601_

clock-nim :.


	2. Team Seven

.: Damn, got a decent response, so this will be continued lmao. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and holy wow, the faves. Only one chapter, yet some of you did that. Thank you c:

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. :.

* * *

Sasuke _really_ wondered how the teams were formed.

He had once heard that team assignments were based on skill, but Toshio had told him that morning that teams were put together based on how they were envisioned in the future. Sasuke assumed that it was mixture of both because that way, some of the teams made sense, like Team Ten. Yamanaka Ino was the Rookie of the Year and Nara Shikamaru had finished last in the class. For the sake of balancing out the teams, the two almost had to be put together. Add in Akimichi Chouji however, and the next generation of the village's Ino-Shika-Chou trio had been formed. Team Eight made sense as well because they were probably being trained to be a tracking team. The Hyuuga clan had the Byakugan, the Inuzuka clan had dogs, and Sasuke remembered learning that the bugs of the Aburame clan could track just about anything. Sure, their team was a little stacked in skill, but it was the best fit for them.

What Sasuke just couldn't understand was how his team, Team Seven, had been formed. It wasn't that he was particularly disappointed with his teammates; he just didn't see the benefit of being grouped with them. It was him, some girl named Haruno Sakura, and the Hokage's son, Naruto. Sakura's name was usually near the top of the rankings for written examinations, but when it came to physical trials, she fell behind more than a little bit. Naruto was an all-rounder, the strongest shinobi in their class by far who occasionally knew even more than the book did because of his father.

And then, there was Sasuke.

He wasn't making light of his own abilities—he knew he was talented—he just couldn't see the purpose of their team. There was no blatant connection. It was like they were just put together for shits and giggles.

There the three of them were though, waiting for their jounin instructor who was running late. All the other teams had long since been collected from the Academy, but their team remained inside their old classroom. Sasuke was sitting a row behind his new teammates, and he watched Sakura unsuccessfully try to get Naruto's attention. The latter genin was a bit jittery, glancing at the door every few seconds.

"No one else would be this late…" he muttered.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked, blinking innocently.

"Our jounin instructor," Naruto finally gave her the time of day. He turned around, giving both Sasuke and Sakura his attention. "I feel like I know who it is. No one else would be this late."

Sasuke thought over Naruto's reasoning. He didn't know of many jounin that were anything less than prompt. In fact, he could only think of one… his eyes widened. "It can't be…" he whispered.

"Oh, it can," a voice replied. When the three genin turned to look at the door, there stood a man whose gray hair suspiciously resembled a paint brush. His forehead protector was tied securely around the intended area, but it was slanted enough to cover his left eye and meet the dark mask that covered the lower half of his face. He was dressed in the standard jounin garb, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets. With his visible eye, he gave the three a pointed look, "Meet me on the rooftop."

:: ::

"Mm… we should probably take the time to introduce ourselves," the jounin said, leaning back against the railing. "Who wants to go first?"

Sasuke looked between his new teammates, but neither of them seemed to be willing to start. He withdrew into his seat on the steps because there was no way he was going to be leading the charge.

"Isn't it best if you introduce yourself first, Sensei?" Sakura asked hesitantly, and Sasuke sent her a mental thanks for breaking the silence.

The man shrugged in reply, "Sure." He adjusted his posture slightly, "There's not much to say about me. I'm Hatake Kakashi, and I have absolutely no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes… Dreams for the future… huh… oh, and I do have some hobbies…" He trailed off before looking at the three expectantly.

Naruto snorted in response.

"B-but, you only told us your name," Sakura protested weakly, eyes wide at the startling lack of information they received.

"Maa, I'm hardly important," Kakashi replied, waving dismissively. "I'm sure you'll learn all you need to know about me over time, so let's just get the basics for you three." He zeroed in on Naruto, "How about we start with you, Honorable Son?"

Naruto gave Kakashi a very pointed look at that particular address, "Ha. Ha. Ha. You are so _funny_ , Kakashi." Although he like he had more to say on the matter, Naruto leaned back into the steps, "My name is Namikaze Naruto. I like ramen, toads, and seals. I don't like being called 'Honorable Son' because it's _stupid_ to give me recognition for my dad doing something I have no control over, and I _really_ don't like the assholes who think that it's fun to try to kidnap me because my dad kicked their asses once. Again, I had nothing to do with that. I wasn't even alive." He then became contemplative, "In the future… I'm going to be Hokage."

"Because of your dad?" Sakura asked, smiling at him innocently.

Naruto snorted with a swift shake of the head, "No. I'm going to be Hokage because I'm going to become strong enough to protect the villagers. I'm not going to be known as the oh, so honorable son of the Yellow Flash for the rest of my life."

"That's respectable," Kakashi nodded. He looked to Sasuke, "You're next."

"My name is Sasuke," the dark-haired boy began with the most basic tenant of himself.

"Sasuke…?" Kakashi prodded when he notced that the genin wasn't going to say anything else. Sasuke was sure that as his new instructor, Kakashi knew the reason why he didn't introduce himself with a surname. That meant he wouldn't let him off the hook until he explained the reason to his teammates. Great.

"If I have an official family name, I don't know what it is," Sasuke shook his head. "To be honest, I don't know anything about my birth family," he shrugged. At the shocked looks Naruto and Sakura gave him, he inwardly rolled his eyes. Talking about his lack of a family didn't affect him as much as it used to because Sasuke knew that at this point in his life, it was simply a matter of fact. "As for what I like, I guess I like tomatoes and my roommate. He's really… animated," Sasuke said, choosing his words carefully. "As for dislikes," Sasuke paused and looked down, uncertain in what he should answer.

After a few moments of pondering, Sasuke looked up when he thought of something, "Two things: I don't like when people use their power to oppress and abuse others simply because they can." He spoke quietly, but his words were clear. "I also don't like when people judge you based on your background. It's always seemed pointless to me. You should be judged on what _you_ can do, not what your family has or hasn't accomplished because you're not them." Beside him, Naruto nodded his agreement. As an afterthought, Sasuke added, "I don't really have any hobbies…"

"What are your dreams?" Kakashi asked, somewhat intrigued.

"… My dream is to learn about my family, actually," Sasuke replied, a bit embarrassed to be admitting that. "I know it would be childish to think that they're still out there because they're probably not, so I've given up on that. But even if they're not, I just want to know more about them. Where they came from and what kind of people they are, things like that."

"It's good that you're being realistic about it," Kakashi nodded his approval.

"Right," Sasuke nodded, still a bit flustered as he avoided eye contact.

"Damn, you're cute…" Sakura whispered, looking at Sasuke with wide eyes. Her clan less teammate was rather attractive up close. _How_ had she not noticed this before?

"What?" Sasuke's brows shot up as he flushed brilliantly. He looked at Sakura incredulously, "What did you just say to me?"

"Nothing!" Sakura quipped. "It's my turn, isn't it?" She quickly changed topics, "Uh, I'm Haruno Sakura. I like…" she trailed off before furiously shaking her head, "I don't really know what I know what I like! I don't dislike anything either," she shook her head again. "Um, my hobbies are hanging out with Ino?"

"Any dreams?" Kakashi asked lazily, severely unimpressed by her answers.

"To be a strong kunoichi?" Sakura squeaked out a guess as she looked at Kakashi for approval.

"Doable," he nodded in reply. "I'm sure we'll get to know each other better and all that great stuff, so those introductions are all fine." Kakashi stopped leaning against the railing. "Tomorrow we'll be starting our duties as a team. Before that though, you'll be taking part in some survival training."

"Survival training?" Naruto asked, eyeing Kakashi suspiciously.

"Um, why is training our first duty?" Sakura asked, raising her hand. "Didn't we do enough of that at the Academy?"

"This won't be normal training," Kakashi said coolly. "I'm your opponent this time."

"You'll kill us," Naruto deadpanned. He squinted at the man, "Are you even allowed to do this, Kakashi?"

"I'm required to," the jounin replied, a bit too pleased with the idea. He began to chuckle, "You guys don't even know the best part about this…" When the three looked at him quizzically, he only began to laugh louder. When he had been fully satisfied, Kakashi gave the three a smug look, "Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine of you are actually allowed to become genin."

"Oh, _hell_ no," Naruto said, eyes widening. "You can't be serious!"

"Oh, I am," Kakashi said all too gleefully. If they could see his face, Sasuke was sure that the man would be wearing a shit-eating grin. "The test I'm going to put you through tomorrow has a failure rate of over sixty-six percent. Tomorrow, there's a good chance nobody could pass!"

Realistically, Sasuke could understand the reasoning behind a second test. Sure, a group of preteens could perform certain techniques, but that didn't mean that they were all going to be able to survive in the shinobi world. One mistake, and they were dead. There had to be another way of filtering out those who could truly survive, and being pitted against a jounin was the best way to see who those genin were. However, to hear that there was a pretty good chance that he was going to be sent back to the Academy made Sasuke want to _break_ something.

"I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning at the training grounds," Kakashi took out sheets of paper. "You're going to want to bring all of your tools. All of the details are on this." He handed them the information. "Oh, and don't eat breakfast."

:: ::

Sasuke had eaten breakfast.

It wasn't much, but he had grabbed a handful of cherry tomatoes before he left the apartment, Toshio's earlier lecture about doing an examination on an empty stomach preventing him from completely following Kakashi's rules. He was sure that the lack of a meal was supposed to simulate the hunger that would occur in a real survival situation, but Sasuke was going to make himself feel better about cheating by calling his tomatoes rations that he discovered when mapping out the area.

Also, Sasuke had decided that he didn't want to dry heave if Kakashi ended up beating the shit out of him.

As Sasuke walked down the path leading to the training grounds, he saw Sakura sitting down by herself. They shared a quiet greeting, Sasuke sitting a respectful distance from her as they waited for their last teammate to show up.

It took two more hours for Naruto to join them. With a lazy wave and a wide yawn, he headed over to his teammates, "Did Kakashi show up yet?"

"No," Sakura shook her head. "You're lucky though, Naruto-kun. You would have been in so much trouble if he'd gotten here before you did."

"Nah, I've been here longer than you have, Sakura," Naruto said with a laugh. "I've never been to this training ground to actually train, so I wanted to check it out and see if I could set up any traps." He grinned, "It's Kakashi's own fault for giving me all the extra time."

"While that's a _great_ idea, Naruto," Kakashi said, appearing behind the genin. Naruto froze, eyes wide, "the survival exercise hasn't started yet, so I got rid of all of your traps." He walked around his dumbstruck student and towards the posts Sakura and Sasuke were leaning against. Taking out a clock, he set it down on the central post. "This clock's alarm is set for noon." He gestured to Naruto, his tone of voice blatantly amused, "Come over here, you might want to hear this."

Naruto's eyebrow seemed to twitch in annoyance, but he walked over.

"I've got two bells here," Kakashi brandished the two pieces of metal. "Your objective is to take them from me. If you succeed, you get lunch. If you fail, you will be tied to one of these wooden posts and you have to watch everyone else get lunch." He secured the bells to his waist before he looked back to the three. "Oh, and one more thing. If you fail to get a bell, you're being sent back to the Academy."

"If there are only two bells, then one of us _has_ to fail…" Sakura said nervously.

Sasuke mentally wished Sakura the best of luck back at the Academy. There was no way in hell Naruto was going to end up failing, and even if Sasuke wasn't the best fighter in their graduating class, he was certainly better than _Sakura_. On the off chance that she did get a bell before he did, Sasuke was not going to be so kind as to let her _keep_ that bell if doing so meant that he would have to go through another year at the Academy. He would rather endure the "power of youth" training Neji had with his team, and Neji had told Sasuke enough stories to scare him out of ever wanting to meet the older genin's team, even by chance.

"A helpful hint: The only way you're going to have any chance of beating me is if you come at me with the intent to kill me," Kakashi informed them. "If you want to be the slightest bit successful, you're going to have to come at with everything you've got."

"But you're going to be in danger!" Sakura protested.

"No, he won't," Sasuke replied quietly, eyeing Kakashi with all the trepidation in the world. Kakashi was someone that Toshio both admired and feared, and since Toshio was one of the strongest people Sasuke had ever met, he knew better than to underestimate the jounin before him. There was no doubt in his mind that Kakashi was stronger in every way. Even when Sasuke had asked the other for advice the day before, Toshio had only shrugged, warning him not freeze up when the time was right. Kakashi wouldn't be expecting to be sniped down, and Sasuke would only have one chance before the jounin came up with a way to immobilize him.

"We're ready whenever you are," Naruto said with a cheeky grin, "Kakashi-sensei."

If he had had the time to contradict Naruto's statement, Sasuke just might have done it. The Hokage's son seemed to be the only one ready to face the jounin, and Naruto either didn't realize or simply didn't care that his teammates didn't have the same advantage of knowing Kakashi their entire lives.

"Begin."

:: ::

Sasuke immediately took himself to higher ground. Stationed up in a tree, he lifted the transformation he had placed on his weapons and tools, revealing his bow and quiver. He had chosen not to take the bow he had just received because he wasn't comfortable using it yet, but as Sasuke lined himself up, eyes on his target, he acknowledged that he was growing out of his current bow, and he would need a new one soon. When he was sure that he was ready to act on the first opening Kakashi gave him, Sasuke took the time to locate his teammates. If he could judge by the rustling he heard, Sakura was hiding under some bushes a few meters away, and Naruto was… right where he'd been before?

He hadn't moved from his spot.

Naruto was mirroring Kakashi's calm posture, and he grinned at Kakashi. "Look, we both know that I can't take you down all alone. I'm not going to try and trick you either because you would see right through it."

"Then what are you going to do?" Kakashi asked with a sigh. "Ask your teammates for help?"

"Nah, I've got enough teammates with just me," Naruto smirked before taking a fighting stance.

Kakashi almost looked disappointed. He glanced at the stance the orange-clad genin had taken. "One of the most basic ninja abilities is taijutsu, simple hand-to-hand combat. I doubt you'd be able to outmatch me in that one," he said, reaching into his pocket. "Would you like me to make an example out of you?"

Naruto ignored him. "You know, there's this _great_ scroll inside the admin building," Naruto said, making a hand seal. "A few years ago, I learned the _best_ technique from it." His grin grew, "Only took me a few hours to get it down." Sasuke's jaw dropped as Naruto suddenly wasn't alone against Kakashi, the genin being joined by duplicates of himself. Each one wore a teasingly predatory grin. "Ready, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Sure," Kakashi took out a book and opened it up. "Whenever you're ready, _Honorable Son_."

"Asshole, I _hate_ that name," one of the blond doppelgangers cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"Don't worry about the book," another ordered. "It'll be his fault when we punch his damn face in!"

However, as the conglomerate of shadow clones attacked Kakashi, each and every one was swiftly taken out of existence via a puff of smoke. Kakashi was disposing of the clones like they were nothing, turning the pages in his book every so often, showing to the other two genin watching that Naruto was no threat to him. The attacks persisted on though, until there were only two doppelgangers of Naruto left, both breathing heavily.

"Ready to give up?" Kakashi asked, turning another page in his book.

"Not on your life!" one of the doppelgangers bit back. Taking out a pair of kunai each, the two remaining copies charged at Kakashi. The jounin avoided both of their initial attacks and sidestepped the two kunai that were thrown by one of the doppelgangers. Almost immediately after, one doppelganger used the other as a launching pad and took an aerial attack, baring kunai. Kakashi easily disabled the clone, causing it to erupt in a puff of smoke. Sweeping his leg out, Kakashi followed up on the second clone causing it to trip, but not disappear.

"To be honest, I was expecting more. You're the original?" Kakashi asked in a bored fashion.

"Nope," Naruto grinned cheekily, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"I am though," a voice some little ways away said. Kakashi looked to see Naruto dropping down from a tree. Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw a piece of metal glinted at Naruto's feet.

It was one of the bells.

"I had one of my clones get rid of it when they all attacked you in the beginning," Naruto explained. "I was hoping that you'd be too focused on them to notice it, and I was right," he grinned triumphantly. As he reached down to pick up the bell, one of his legs was grabbed and his body flipped upside down. "The hell, Kakashi?!"

"Ah, when I dismantled your traps, I may have set up a few of my own," Kakashi said. "A valiant effort, Naruto, but you're going to have to try a bit harder if you want me to pass you. As it is, you're hardly looking underneath the underneath."

"I'm _trying_ to!"

"You're not trying hard enough or you would have realized that I _let_ you cut one of the bells off," Kakashi bent down to pick bell up and refastened it to his waist. "You of all people should know better than this, Naruto."

Naruto eyed his teacher contemplatively, trying to see what it was that he was missing. As nothing seemed to be entering his mind, the genin grew frustrated. "Lazy ass motherfucker," Naruto muttered to himself. He looked at Kakashi, "I'll be back." The fair-haired boy then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So that was a clone too," Kakashi sighed, shoving his hands in his pocket, "I was hoping you'd figured it out… pity." He turned away from the tree, "Now where are the others?"

Sasuke released the arrow cleanly. It sailed down and nailed Kakashi in the back. The jounin staggered forward, falling onto his knees. Sasuke's eyes widened, surprised that he'd managed to succeed.

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke's eyes widened even more.

He was dead.

It had been a shadow clone fighting Naruto the entire time, of course. Kakashi had the same plan Naruto did: He intended to gauge their strengths and weaknesses before he swiftly took them out one by one. Just like he had done with Naruto, the jounin had purposely left an opening, and Sasuke had fallen right into his trap like an idiot. And now that Kakashi knew where Sasuke was, chances are he would come after him next.

Sasuke abandoned his post in a heartbeat, hurrying through the trees to a new hiding place. He had been making good time, but he paused when he heard a piercing scream. Against his better judgment, Sasuke jumped down from the trees, leaving his bow and quiver in the branches. "... Was that Sakura?"

"The second basic ninja skill is genjutsu," Sasuke froze when he heard Kakashi's voice. "Sakura fell for it easily." Sasuke heard the jounin come up behind him. "It's been a long time since I've seen you, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned around. He nodded shortly to the adult, keeping his composure, "It has been. Was it a shadow clone that was testing us from the very beginning?"

"I didn't expect such a scrawny little kid to grow up into that accurate of an archer," Kakashi flexed his back muscles experimentally, completely bypassing Sasuke's question. "I would have been paralyzed for sure if that had hit the real me. Good idea trying to snipe me down."

Sasuke pushed up his glasses, trying to hide the flush that creeping up due to the praise, "Thank you, but that means nothing if I don't have a bell."

"Show me what you got, _Sasuke-chan_ , and you might just get one," Kakashi challenged.

Sasuke whipped out two shuriken, throwing them a short distance before charging in a direct attack, intending to blitz the jounin. Every punch and kick was blocked easily, but Sasuke's body twisted and turned under the pressure even more easily.

Eventually, Sasuke flipped both his legs up, slamming down on Kakashi's shoulders. The jounin's body instinctively fell into the kicks to soften the blow, his body coming in on itself. Sasuke pushed off the jounin's leg with his right hand and aimed a punch towards Kakashi's stomach with his left. This was easily blocked as well, but Sasuke used the momentum to twist his body around. Kakashi's jacket became a surface for him to spin his hand on, and Sasuke was able flip his legs over in a swift motion.

Sasuke brought his left leg down on Kakashi's left side, and as Kakashi dodged, Sasuke's right hand went in for the bell.

"Ah, not so fast," Kakashi tsked, and he pushed Sasuke's body off him, the genin's finger brushing one of the bells as he was thrown back. "Using your flexibility to your advantage is the right idea though." He gave an appreciative nod, "You've got a good sense of body awareness and good control. I'm impressed."

Sasuke flew back at an awkward angle, but he righted himself easily and landed gracefully. "I touched one…" Sasuke mumbled to himself in disbelief, the jounin's words falling on deaf ears. When the boy looked up to launch his second attack, Kakashi had disappeared from his line of sight. "Where'd he go?" He looked all around the area, finding no trace of the jounin, "Above? In the trees?"

"Below."

Sasuke felt a hand grab his ankle. He instinctively tried to pull himself free, but he couldn't pull the second body with him. In almost no time, despite his struggles, the preteen was pulled through the ground until only his head was visible. Kakashi then came into his line of sight.

"The third of the basic ninja arts is ninjutsu," Kakashi informed him. The jounin then crouched down and pet Sasuke's head, eyes curving into crescents as he smiled underneath his mask, "You got closer than Naruto, who only chose to gauge my skill, and you're definitely closer than Sakura is. Once you get out of there, feel free to try again."

:: ::

"How in the hell am I supposed to take down Sharingan fucking Kakashi?" Naruto asked in frustration. He was back in their starting place, leaning against once of the posts. " _Think_ , you can't go back to the Academy."

"… How about you don't try to hurt him?" Sasuke suggested under his breath as he walked over to the other, having finally freed himself from his dirt trap a few minutes earlier. His pride wasn't wounded in the slightest after going up against Kakashi. In fact, he felt amazing. Kakashi had been _impressed_ with him. One of the best shinobi in the village, impressed with Sasuke, of all people. The only reason he believed it had actually happened was because he could still feel the dirt in his sandals.

However, Naruto looked at him as if he were an idiot, "Do you not remember the whole 'intent to kill' spiel he gave us? Kakashi is going to kick our asses if we don't give it everything we have."

Sasuke instinctively leaned back, holding his hands up in defense. A fight with the Hokage's son was the last thing he wanted. "All I want is a bell. When I got a chance to fight Kakashi, I touched one of them." He shrugged, "Maybe if you try, you'll actually get one." Giving Naruto a look, he continued, "You're the strongest shinobi in our class, remember?"

"You _touched_ one?" Naruto gaped at the other boy. He leaned back against the post. "Shit, I'm so far behind."

Sasuke pushed up his glasses, his face the pinnacle of innocence as he looked at Naruto, "Have you tried looking underneath the underneath?"

"Don't _you_ start with that now," Naruto rolled his eyes. "He always says… wait," His head shot up. "I know how to beat him."

"How?" Sasuke asked carefully, surprised at the quick change in character.

"Oh, Sasuke," Naruto said, a grin spreading onto his face, "I could kiss you right now."

" _What_?" Sasuke's eyes widened almost comically behind his frames. A _kiss_ from the Hokage's son was the last thing he wanted; he'd changed his mind.

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking around the clearing. His previous comment thankfully held no real weight. "We need her too, or we have no chance."

"I'm right here," Sakura replied weakly as she trudged over to the boys. "Kakashi-sensei got me with a genjutsu, and we're almost out of time now." She slumped down next to them, "I'm never going to get a bell… maybe I'll have more luck next year."

"No," Naruto shook his head, "we're _all_ going to pass today."

"But there are only two bells, Naruto-kun," Sakura pointed out. "One of us has to go back to the Academy." Sasuke idly wondered if she would offer herself up as a sacrifice to assure Naruto's survival.

"Look, he got me with taijutsu, you with genjutsu, and I'll guess that he got Sasuke with ninjutsu," Naruto looked to the final member of the team for confirmation. Sasuke nodded. Naruto then gave the two of his teammates a confident grin, "I _know_ I'm right about this one. Kakashi got each of us with the basic ninja arts. Everyone usually says those three are most important, but as long as I can remember, Kakashi's always said something different. That's why he said I should know better. I've known him the longest," Naruto explained before frowning slightly. "I can't believe it took me this long. He gave me a hint before we even started fighting." The boy groaned, knocking the back of his head against the post as he mentally berated himself.

"… Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Shinobi rules," Naruto picked up his explanation swiftly, all signs of discontent vanishing. "Something about how if you break the shinobi rules, you're basically trash, but if you leave your teammates behind, even if it's because of the rules, then you're worse than trash." He stood up and walked behind the posts to the dark, kunai-shaped structure laying innocently in the grounds, Sasuke and Sakura following him. "This is the memorial stone for all the shinobi and kunoichi who died in battle. There's a reason why Kakashi chose these grounds." Naruto sighed, "…I don't know the whole story, but the name of his best friend is written on this stone. That's why teamwork is so important to him." Naruto looked to his teammates, "We're supposed to work together. As long as we try, we're going to pass whether or not we get the bells."

Sasuke stared at the stone in realization, "Genin teams are made of three…" He'd been reminded of that fact just days earlier, but Sasuke had been all too ready to send Sakura back to Academy if it meant he didn't have to go back himself. He wondered if Kakashi would be as impressed with him if he had ever voiced how willing he was to abandon Sakura.

"Exactly. He's trying to divide us, but we have to show him that we're not going to sacrifice one of our teammates just to get ahead." Naruto shook his head, "It wouldn't be right. If we want to get anywhere with our shinobi careers, we're going to have to work together."

"Well, let's work together then!" Sakura said with a hopeful smile. Sasuke nodded his agreement, making a mental promise to treat respect Sakura as the teammate she was.

"Okay, but first," Naruto brandished the two lunches that Kakashi had brought. "You guys need to eat. I broke the rules and ate breakfast, so you need it more than I do."

"Uh, I'm on a diet…" Sakura trailed off, eyeing the boxed meal with trepidation.

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he accepted the boxed lunch from Naruto. This respect thing was going to be a little more difficult than he'd expected.

"You should still eat it," Naruto insisted. "You need to keep your energy up."

"But—"

Naruto cut her off, giving her an annoyed look, "Do I have to spoon feed you?"

"You should probably spoon feed yourself," Sasuke quipped, annoyed at the back and forth between the two. Sakura and Naruto both looked at him as if he had grown a second head, surprised that something so sharp was coming from their new teammate. At this, Sasuke elaborated carefully, properly flustered due to the point blank attention. That thought was _supposed_ to stay safe inside his head. "… Have some of my food too," he said quietly. "I had something to eat this morning. You need it just as much as I do, Naruto."

"Was Sakura the only one who followed the rules I set?" Kakashi asked, appearing behind the three.

Sasuke and Sakura both froze at the jounin's words, but Naruto turned around smoothly to face Kakashi as their team's spokesperson. "Not exactly. We've decided that _none_ of us are going back to the Academy, even if none of us can get a bell from you. We've also decided that we're going to eat because if this is really survival training, then we don't know when our next meal is going to be," he articulated his argument clearly. "We need to store as much energy as we can right now, even if _some_ of us are on diets," Naruto gave Sakura a pointed look before looking back to Kakashi, "Oh, and finally, we're going to be fighting you together because even if breaking your rules makes us trash, if we didn't take care of each other, we'd be worse than trash."

"Oh, really?" Kakashi asked. He looked to Sasuke and Sakura, "And you both agree with this?"

Sakura nodded nervously, and Sasuke carefully took a bite of the food, wide eyes never leaving Kakashi as he chewed slowly.

That was all the confirmation the jounin needed.

* * *

.: Thanks for reading, and feel free to give me feedback, even if you give up this story. I'll appreciate it either way. c:

 _word count: 5.540_

clock-nim :.


	3. To the Land of Waves

.: Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. :.

* * *

"Dad, I love you, but I want a better mission," were the first words out of Naruto's mouth when Team Seven stepped into the Hokage's office to turn in their previous mission's report. "If the feudal lord's wife can't keep track of her stupid cat, she shouldn't be allowed to keep it." He snorted, "I'd bet good money that it's running away on purpose."

"Naruto-kun…" Sakura whispered, eyes wide as she looked between the Hokage and his son, unsure if she should apologize for her teammate or leave him be.

"What?" Naruto asked, not seeing what the problem with his words was. "We're _all_ getting tired of this. Hell, _Sharingan Kakashi_ is our jounin leader, and you're making him track down a _cat_ , Dad." He crossed his arms, "How is this utilizing one of the village's best shinobi properly?"

Sasuke sighed. They had just come back from another "retrieve Tora the cat" mission, and quite frankly, he was getting tired of such boring missions himself. For the past few weeks, they had been doing nothing but painting fences, weeding gardens, and babysitting little kids. Maybe they were supposed to be learning how to work as a singular unit, but it had been going on for far too long in Sasuke's opinion. He wouldn't go so far as to demand the Hokage give them something more challenging if Kakashi wouldn't, but apparently, Naruto saw things differently as the man's son.

The Fourth Hokage gave his son a look, "Naruto, you know that's not how things work in this village. Everyone has to build up to higher ranked missions, and that takes _time_. You've barely been a shinobi for a month." He leaned back in his chair, "And Kakashi knew what he was getting into when he passed you three."

"I was actually banking on this happening within the first two weeks," Kakashi put in.

"Exactly!" Naruto gestured wildly to the jounin. "This is absolute b—" he cut himself off swiftly. He wasn't ready to go there with his father just yet. Naruto sighed, "Okay, look, Dad—er, Lord Hokage," he corrected, trying to keep his emotions in check, "all I'm saying is that I think Team Seven is ready to move up to C-ranked missions. I know we're not ready for B-ranks and A-ranks yet because like you said, we've barely even been genin for a month. Despite that, I think it's safe to assume that we can handle something like taking out a wild boar or guarding a merchant. And if anything goes wrong, Kakashi _is_ our mission leader. He knows how mediate a C-rank mission error."

"Naruto…" the Fourth sighed in resignation, "Your mother is going to have my head for this one, but fine." He shrugged, "After all, how are you supposed to prove you're ready until you come home with a successful C-rank?" The Hokage's eyes were drawn to an open scroll that he briefly skimmed through before looking to Team Seven, "Your next mission will be a textbook escort." He gave Naruto a pleased look, "See what happens when you use your words?"

"Great things," Naruto grinned triumphantly. He raised a brow, "Who are we escorting?"

"He should be here by now." The Hokage gave a look to the shinobi at the door, "You can let him in."

"... Surely this is some sort of a joke, Lord Hokage," a gravelly voice said a few moments after the door opened, "These kids look like a bunch of brats." Team Seven turned to see an old man entering the room. He was dressed plainly and he had an obvious beer gut. The man took a swig of the bottle he carried in his hand, leaning against the door all too casually as he sized up the genin. "Especially the short one, is he even a ninja?"

Naruto twitched, "I am _not_ short." Taking a deep breath, Naruto forced himself to unclench his fists. "I swear, old man, if I didn't know any better, I would punch your face in."

"Be quiet, Naruto," the Hokage silenced his son without missing a beat. "And, Tazuna-san, while you're entitled to your opinion, that would be my _son_ you're insulting." He smiled at the old man pleasantly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, "He might just surprise you, so I would advise you not to judge a book by its cover."

"I-I mean I'm sure this team is more than capable of escorting me back to my village safely!" The old man backtracked immediately. Instantly snapping to attention almost, he stopped leaning on the door, and the bottle was held firmly at his side. "I'm sure this is a quality team."

"Of course you are," Naruto rolled his eyes, not impressed in the slightest. "Who even _are_ you, old man?"

" _Tazuna-sa_ n is an expert bridge builder from the Land of Waves. He's seeking protection from a team of shinobi not only as escorts but as body guards until he completes the construction of his bridge," Minato read from a scroll before handing it to Kakashi. "Make the village proud."

:: ::

"Finally," Naruto grinned as they took their first steps out of the village. He gave a wistful sigh as he looked around the area with all the curiosity of a toddler.

"What are you so excited about?" Tazuna squinted at the genin.

"Well, seeing as I've never left the village in anything other than a _burlap sack_ ," Naruto gave him a pointed look, "it's kind of nice to actually see what the world looks like outside of the village walls." He took in a deep breath, smiling contently, "This is the best." He looked to his teammates, "Have you guys ever been out of the village before?"

"… Burlap sack?" Tazuna looked to Kakashi in question as the three genin conversed amongst themselves.

"He's joking… kind of," Kakashi replied. "He's left the village on normal terms more than enough times to take in the scenery, but the kid's also been kidnapped over the years," the jounin explained. At Tazuna's shocked expression, Kakashi dismissively shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Very few that try have been successful in getting a hold of him, and even less are successful in getting him out of the village, let alone his _home_. Considering his father is one of the fastest men alive, it's a wonder why enemies even tried." Kakashi was rather matter of fact about it. "It's one of the things he knows he has to deal with as the son of the Yellow Flash." The jounin then became contemplative, "It should make him a better shinobi in the long run though. He's pretty good at sensing potential enemies for a genin."

"Potential enemies?" Sakura's head quirked up at the words. She posed her question nervously, "Sensei, do you think there's a chance we could run into enemy ninja? Doesn't the Land of Waves have a shinobi village?"

Kakashi shook his head, "Not in the Land of Waves, no. And even if they did, C-rank missions don't involve contact with enemy shinobi and kunoichi. That's reserved for B-ranks and above." Kakashi then side-stepped a puddle of water, casting it a curious glance before dismissing it and continuing on. Slightly altering his pace, he began to fall back behind Tazuna and the rest of his team, Naruto and Sasuke taking the point.

As Sasuke passed by the puddle, he cast it a longer look, "Was it raining earlier?"

"No. Something's not right here," Naruto said quietly, matching his pace with Sasuke's. "I think we're being followed." Sasuke quirked a brow in surprise. "Don't say anything, or you're going to scare Sakura. Just make sure the client is secured and wait for _them_ to attack _us_."

"Right," Sasuke said quietly with a nod. He looked at his teammate curiously, "I thought there weren't supposed to be any shinobi in the Land of Waves?"

"There _aren't_ ," Naruto replied with a frown. "That's why something's not right."

"One down."

Everyone turned back to see Kakashi wrapped up in chains held by mysterious ninja in breathing masks. Each wore a large metal claw, connecting themselves via the chains hanging from them. There was a low laugh before the two pulled the claws, and Kakashi was ripped to shreds before their very eyes, leaving behind bloodied organs and shattered bones mixed together. Sakura inhaled sharply at the gore.

"Two down." Naruto looked behind him to see the two masked ninja coming after him, chain ready. "Sad that the Hokage's son has to go out this way."

"Oh, you're fucking hilarious," Naruto gave them a tense grin. He threw a shuriken behind him, nailing one end of the chains to a tree and forcing the enemies away from him, if only a little bit.

Before he could secure it in place and get away, two arrows struck the center in sharp succession, embedding deeply into the tree and securing the chains. Naruto looked to see Sasuke mid-air, having released the arrows from his bow. He then landed with his feet on the metal claws, lightly swaying as he found a natural balance. Sasuke kicked out with both legs, balancing himself on the claws with his bow and striking the enemies in the head. The two flew back, detaching their claws from their chains and changing targets as soon as they had recovered from Sasuke's attack.

Sasuke landed gracefully, reattaching his bow to his back as he did so. With a nod to Naruto, the two chased after the ninja. Sakura stood in front of Tazuna with a kunai drawn, shaky in her stance but firm in her resolve to protect the client. Naruto and Sasuke moved swiftly, positioning themselves in between Sakura and the enemy. Before any attack could be made though, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, swiftly capturing both enemies.

Sasuke blinked owlishly, trying to process what had just happened and why their teacher was no longer shredded remains. He looked to where Kakashi was supposed to be and saw woodchips in in his place. The genin then looked back to his instructor, finally understanding, "You used a substitution…"

"You ass, you were _testing_ us?" Naruto shouted out in annoyance. "What if we actually died?"

"I knew you wouldn't, and you didn't," Kakashi replied simply.

Despite the subtle compliment, Naruto wasn't satisfied. "… Asshole."

Sasuke was contemplative however, already moving on from his teacher's deceit. "Those claws smelled like some sort of poison," he gave his teammate a careful look, "If you got cut by one of them, you would need to be treated."

"How do _you_ know what poison smells like?" Kakashi eyed the genin.

"Toshio," Sasuke replied simply, and Kakashi accepted the answer with an understanding nod. Sasuke then cast Naruto a look, "Did they?"

Naruto shrugged, "I'm fine." He then remembered something, "But since when are you an archer-nin? You never said anything about it when we were in the Academy." He gave an appreciative nod, "That's actually pretty cool."

"Uh, thanks," Sasuke said, flushing slightly. He doubted that Naruto had even cared who he was when they were in the Academy, but he wouldn't bring that up. "I wouldn't really call myself an archer-nin though, I haven't figured out how to work it into a close-range fighting style yet." He then realized something himself, "How did you sense the enemy so fast? I really thought they would have at least nicked you."

Naruto simpered cheekily, "They all start to feel the same after a while."

"Naruto, Sasuke, that was good teamwork you showed, whether or not it was intentional," Kakashi said, cutting into their conversation. "Naruto, it was smart to stay calm when you first noticed the enemy and then to limit their movement with the chains. Sasuke, that's impressive aim for a mid-air shot, and your use of your bow to balance yourself was a smart way to use your resources and avoid the claws. Sakura," he looked to the final genin, "it was good that you focused on protecting the client before anything else." He looked to the old bridge builder, "Tazuna-san, we need to talk."

"Uh, _yeah_ , we do," Naruto agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment. "What kind of bridge builder has _hit men_ sent after him?"

The old man gulped but said nothing as Kakashi tied the two enemy ninja to a tree. "Roughly chunin-level from… the Hidden Mist," Kakashi deduced from a glance at their clothing. "I wonder what exactly you're doing here like little fish out of water?"

"How did you even track us?" One of them asked in annoyance.

"Like the _genin_ noticed earlier, it was your puddle," Kakashi decided to inform him. "On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained for weeks, a puddle of water shouldn't exist, especially one that big. The ground is too dry for something like that."

"…Why did you let the brats fight if you knew that they were in danger?" Tazuna asked.

Kakashi cast him a look, "While I could have killed these two instantly if I had really wanted to, I had to find out who exactly the target was, you, myself, or maybe even Naruto?" He gave the bridge builder a dry look, "They're after you." Tazuna leaned back apprehensively. "We were never told that shinobi were after you when you filed this mission request. Our mission was to simply protect you from average thieves or gangs while you completed the bridge. This mission is now, at the very _least_ , a rather expensive B-rank with the arrival of mercenaries from the Mist. Whether or not you had a reason for this, my team is operating outside of our duties."

Sasuke glanced at his jounin instructor carefully, "We're not leaving him, are we?"

"Sasuke, be reasonable. We aren't ready for a mission like this," Sakura said nervously. "I think we should quit. And didn't you mention something about poison? We should make sure that Naruto-kun is really all right!"

"No, we shouldn't," Naruto protested. "Do I _look_ hurt to you, Sakura?" He gave her a pointed look, and she shrunk back ever so slightly. "We're not stopping this mission because of me. Even if this old geezer lied to us about the mission, we promised to protect him, so we're _going_ to protect him!"

"I agree with Naruto," Sasuke nodded, ignoring Sakura's dismayed glances between the three of them. "If we're all fine, there's no reason why we shouldn't keep going with the mission."

"But—!" Sakura was cut off.

"In that case, we'll be continuing on," Kakashi said. He bore into Tazuna with his eye, "However, you _will_ be telling us everything about this mission, Tazuna-san."

:: ::

Surrounded by a thick mist, Team Seven along with Tazuna and a ferryman drifted through a calm sea. Naruto sat in the back of the boat, casting a judging look at Tazuna with his arms crossed. The old man sat further up next to Sakura, Sasuke acting as a buffer between the two parties. Kakashi sat at the bow with the ferryman.

"We should be able to see the bridge soon," the ferryman informed them. "The sea entrance to the Land of Waves is at the base of it."

Within five minutes, the group was greeted by the sight of a massive construction, and although it wasn't completed yet, its presence was still daunting.

"That's fucking huge," Naruto said, eyes wide. He looked to Tazuna, "I'm impressed, old man."

Kakashi instead stared lazily at Tazuna, "Before we get to the entrance, I'm going to need you to tell me who's after you and why they're after you." He continued, "If you don't tell me, I'm calling this mission off once we hit the shore, no matter what the consensus of my students is."

Tazuna sighed, "If you're willing to hear it, I guess it's time to tell you my story." Kakashi merely stared at him, waiting. "Like you said, this mission is probably too much for your team to handle. A man called Gatou is after my life."

"Wait a second," Naruto cut in. "Gatou as in the Marine Transport Billionaire Gatou? Gatou as in one of the _richest men in the world Gatou_?" He looked Tazuna up and down. "All offense intended, what's so great about you that that rich asshole would want you dead?"

"He may deal with marine transport on the surface, but underground, he uses mercenaries to smuggle drugs and contraband." Tazuna paused, sighing. "A year ago, he set his sights on my country, and he took over the island's sea and traffic transportation. On an island like the Land of Waves, controlling the sea means a monopoly over wealth, politics, and the people."

"And the bridge… scares him?" Sakura suggested.

"Probably," Naruto nodded his agreement. "Connect the Land of Waves to the rest of the world, and Gatou's monopoly dies a miserable death."

"You, being the bridge builder, are his main obstacle at the moment, so Gatou sent ninja after you." Kakashi eyed Tazuna, "Gatou is a man _known_ to hire mercenary ninja. Why did you hide this? You put us all in danger."

"The Land of Waves is a very impoverished land," Tazuna looked down. "Even the feudal lord doesn't have much money. Anything above a B-ranked mission was out of the question."

"… Then why didn't you buy a B-rank?" Naruto asked the obvious question.

"Even then, it would have been difficult." Tazuna sighed, "If you quit your mission after we arrive, I'll surely be killed on my way home." He looked at them, "It won't be your fault whenever I die though. It would have been unavoidable. My poor grandson will just cry when he sees his beloved grandfather dead, and my daughter will hold a grudge against all ninja from Hidden Leaf." He relented, "But still, it won't be your fault."

Naruto sniffed the air, "What's that smell? I believe it is the distinct scent of guilt tripping," he rolled his eyes.

Sasuke snorted quietly.

"Lay off the act, Tazuna-san," Kakashi stated dryly. "We already decided that we would continue escorting you. Even if we decided not to, no amount of self-pity would have changed my mind."

The ship docked, and the group got off.

"Okay!" Tazuna said, a sharp change in character. "Get me home safely."

"Sure, sure…" Kakashi waved dismissively. He sighed, reluctant to get into another battle with his students.

Naruto quirked a brow at Kakashi's behavior as they started walking, but he said nothing. The team walked with Tazuna in somewhat silence, but Naruto's eyes were alert as he surveyed the area for any type of abnormality. After a few moments, he threw a kunai into the bushes. When everyone looked to see what the commotion was, they saw a white rabbit trembling against a tree, narrowing missing impalement by the kunai.

As Tazuna yelled at Naruto for being a useless brat and endangering wildlife, he ignored the bridge builder and instead chose to look contemplatively at the rabbit, "I could have sworn there was at least one person there…" He looked back at Kakashi, "You had to have sensed them too. I swear I saw a shadow, and besides, why the fuck would there be a _white_ rabbit here? It's spring."

"Are we being followed?" Sasuke asked lowly, senses on high alert when he saw Kakashi examining the rabbit closely. He didn't feel it immediately, but once he actively concentrated, he could feel it, a flicker of chakra. He began to turn his head, "It feels like they're behind…"

"Everyone, down!" Kakashi took Naruto tp the ground with him.

Sasuke tackled Tazuna to the ground, Sakura following. A large blade whizzed over their heads, cleanly embedding itself to the tree. Sasuke chanced a glance and saw that the blade would have cleanly beheaded Naruto had he still been standing. In an instant, there was a shirtless man standing on the handle of the blade. The camouflage pattern of his pants matched those of the two ninja they had fought previously.

"Well, well, well, if isn't the Hidden Mist's favorite missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza-kun," Kakashi said passively. "One of the infamous Seven Swordsman of the Hidden Mist, if I remember correctly." He looked back to his team, "All of you, take a defensive position. This one's… different." The masked jounin's hand went for his forehead protector.

"You know, you might be Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza said leisurely, all too at ease with the situation, "but the old man's mine, sorry."

"Protect Tazuna," Kakashi told his students, ignoring the swordsman. "Do _not_ enter this fight." He lifted his forehead protector to its proper place, revealing his red eye, the black tomoe swirling to life. "Zabuza, you know as well as anyone that I can't let you take the old man."

"Ah, I already get to see the famous Sharingan?" Zabuza asked, his tone amused. "I'm honored, Kakashi, really."

Sasuke stared at his jounin instructor in shock. "… I've seen that before," he whispered. He didn't know where, but he knew that he had those red and black eyes before. He tried to search through his memories, but he came up with glaring blanks. The image of the pair of red and black eyes—he knew it wasn't Kakashi's singular eye—was so vivid in his memories, but everything surrounding it was a blur. It frustrated him. Why couldn't he remember?

"Let's see here," Zabuza crouched low on the handle of his blade, like an animal preparing to attack his prey. "I need to kill the old geezer, and you guys want to stop me." He tilted his head to the side, "Guess I have to kick your ass, Kakashi." He sighed, resigned to doing what seemed to be a mundane activity.

Pushing off from the tree, Zabuza pulled his blade free as his body flickered over to the water. The water surface started rippling violently around him, swirling as droplets formed a miniature torrent. He brought a technique to life—each hand was forming a half-ram seal, the right hand in front of his face and the left point up towards the sky. The mist clouded their vision until Zabuza gradually disappeared.

"And the mist thickens…" Naruto said in annoyance, looking around as he gripped his weapons tightly.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi said, eyes scanning the mist for any inkling of Zabuza's chakra signature. "When he was a member of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza was known as an expert in silent killing. You won't notice until you're already dead. No matter what happens, you guys need to be careful."

Sakura gulped nervously.

" _I have eight choices."_ Zabuza's voice projected all around them, _"Liver… lungs… spine… clavicle vein… neck vein… brain… kidneys… and the good ol' heart. Which one should I go after?"_

Sasuke suddenly felt an immense pressure as Kakashi released his killing intent. If he made a single move, he would be dead on the spot due to the suffocation of the air itself. He was sure that anyone who experienced it for too long would go crazy. The genin broke out into a sweat, and his body began to tremble, the intensity of two jounin facing each other making him feel like his life force was being squeezed out of him. It was too much to handle, a sensory overload that sent a shock to his system. He would rather—

"Sasuke," Kakashi's voice rang clear, shocking the genin. "Don't worry, I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He turned back to look at Sasuke, eyes curving into crescents as he tried to reassure the genin, "I don't let my comrades die."

"Sweet words, but that's all they are." The three genin's eyes widened when they felt a strong presence behind them. Tazuna stared in fear as Zabuza appeared in front of him. "This is the end."

Just as he began to swing his blade, he was intercepted cleanly by Kakashi and stabbed with a kunai. As water began to pour out instead of blood, Zabuza seemed to smirk beneath his mask made of bandages. His body dispersed into a puddle of water.

"Kakashi, behind you!" shouted Naruto.

Kakashi turned, eyes widening slightly as Zabuza swung his blade, cleaving Kakashi along the waist cleanly. However, instead of crying out in agony, Kakashi's body dispersed into water. The real Kakashi appeared, holding a kunai against Zabuza's neck. "Don't move," he said coldly.

To his surprise, Zabuza began to chuckle lowly. "You don't get it, do you? There's no way you can beat me when you do my techniques like some trained monkey. It was impressive though," Zabuza acknowledged. "You had already copied my water clone when you were trying to make Four-Eyes calm down. You had your clone talk so I would focus on that while the real you stayed in the mist and watched. It was a decent plan." He smirked as a doppelganger of himself appeared behind Kakashi, "But I'm not that easy to trick." The Zabuza in front dispersed into water, another clone. The remaining Zabuza swung his blade, narrowly missing Kakashi's body as the copy-nin dropped down. Switching hands on the blade, Zabuza swept Kakashi with his leg, pushing him into the water.

The jounin only resurfaced when he realized something was wrong, "This water is heavy…"

Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, "Idiot." He did a sequence of hand seals, activating his next technique. An orb of water encased Kakashi, Zabuza's hand sending a continuous stream of chakra into the hydrosphere to keep its shape consistent. "You tried to escape to the water against someone raised in the Mist? Dumb as hell, Kakashi. You're never going to escape, so get comfortable." A wicked grin could be seen through his bandages, "We can settle this later, okay? I need to take care of those brats calling themselves shinobi." With a one-handed seal, Zabuza created another water clone.

The clone continued on, "Wearing those forehead protectors and acting like you're ninja just because you passed some tests in school," he laughed. "A real shinobi is someone who dances with death on the regular. When you brats get good enough to get into my Bingo Book, _then_ you can start calling yourselves shinobi, but now?" the clone disappeared, but his voice remained, "You aren't even close."

Naruto was instantly swept off his feet, flying back as his forehead protector came undone. The water clone caught it with his foot, grinding it into the dirt. "Nothing but a bunch of brats playing pretend."

"Take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi yelled from his water prison. "He can't move while he keeps me trapped in here, and the water clone can't go far from his body. Retreat now while you have the chance!"

"You want us… to _run_?" Naruto repeated, shocked at Kakashi's words. He shook his head resolutely, "I'm not going to leave you behind, Kakashi."

"What I _love_ is when brats think they can take over the world just because their _daddy_ did something," Zabuza said. His clone ground the forehead protector even further into the ground, "You're not shit, kid, just a Namikaze."

Naruto stared at Zabuza, not saying anything. His fists clenched, but he remained silent. Then, he gave a quiet sigh, unclenching his fists, "Yeah, I know." His eyes were eerily serious as he looked at Zabuza, shaking his head, "I'm not shit." Sasuke and Sakura stared in shock, unable to even fathom how they were supposed to respond. Naruto took slow steps to the water clone, fully aware of the fact that all eyes were on him. Zabuza watched as Naruto came all too close to the clone. He then looked past the clone, meeting Zabuza's eyes. "I'm not shit, but I'm still gonna beat your ass."

"You really are an idiot," Zabuza said, smirking as his clone swiftly took the genin down.

Naruto went sliding back in the dirt, several feet behind his teammates. He got up slowly, hand clutching his forehead protector tightly. Despite being knocked down, he gave a smirk of his own, "Look, you brow less freak of nature…" Zabuza narrowed his eyes, but Naruto didn't back down. "It doesn't matter who my dad is, and it doesn't matter whether or not a messed up fucker like _you_ chooses to give me your approval because… I don't give a fuck." He tied his forehead protector in its rightful place, "Whether my name is Namikaze or Uzumaki, I'm still going to be Hokage someday, and it's not going to have anything to do with my last name." He laughed, "Now my _first_ name? That's Naruto, and I would tell you to put that in your stupid ass Bingo Book, but I don't give a fuck about that either."

"Naruto…" Kakashi sighed.

His teammate had gone back… for his forehead protector? Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, unsure if he should be impressed by Naruto's determination or break out in laughter at the sheer audacity. Their enemy could have _killed_ him without hesitation, but he'd gone back for a piece of metal and cloth.

"Hey, Sasuke, listen up," Naruto looked back at his teammate, grinning. "I've got a plan, and you're going to follow it."

"... Is this your idea of teamwork?" Make no mistake, Sasuke was still scared shitless. No matter how scared he was though, there was no way that he was going to show it after he almost freaked out at jounin-level killing intent. If Naruto could come up with a plan in this kind of situation, then the least Sasuke could do was follow it.

"Hell yeah it is," Naruto grinned a feral grin.

"Big talk for someone so short," Zabuza commented.

"I'm not fucking short, and I wasn't talking to you," Naruto swiftly shot back.

"What are you two even doing?" Kakashi demanded. "I told you all to retreat. You all have a mission to protect Tazuna. Did you forget that?"

"We didn't forget, we're just not going to listen to you," Naruto corrected. "Did you seriously think we were going to leave you behind after that test you gave us? _I'm_ not going to be the one to tell my dad that we lost his last student to some hairless necrophiliac, so we're not leaving without you." He looked to Tazuna, "Sorry, old man, but that's the way it's going to be."

"I _did_ sow this seed myself," Tazuna admitted. "Fight to your hearts' content."

"Oh, we will." Naruto smirked, "Sit tight, Kakashi, we'll get you out of there before you know it."

Zabuza laughed, "You can give me all the speeches you want, but you're nothing but a bunch of brats at the end of the day." He chuckled lowly, "Even when your precious teacher is trying to save your lives, you're acting like the leader you're not. You've got no idea who you're up against, but he does." Zabuza shook his head, "You're going to keep playing at being ninja and lose your lives in the end, kid. When I was your age, my hands were already stained with blood. Adding yours to them now won't do much."

"That's because you're the Demon of the Bloody Mist," Naruto deadpanned, seemingly unaffected by the threat.

The clone gave a slow clap, "Congratulations, kid. You know what I did, and you _still_ think I won't kill you. You're something special."

"You know, I don't get why you keep calling me a kid when you're still a kid yourself," Naruto gave Zabuza's clone a look. He sighed before continuing on, "The Mist used to be a _weird as fuck_ place."

Naruto looked to his teammates, "If you think our graduation test was hard, imagine having to _kill_ someone in the graduating class. Last ones standing get forehead protectors." He took in their horrified faces, "Yeah, we probably skipped over it in our lessons because it's gory as fuck, but that's why they were called the Bloody Mist. Ten years ago though, this _freak_ over here killed the _entire_ graduating class, and he wasn't even in it. He was just a little shit that went crazy." Naruto looked at Zabuza, genuinely disgusted, "You slaughtered everyone so easily that they had to change the rules for graduation because you made the damn _Bloody Mist_ uncomfortable."

Ignoring the fact that they _really_ hadn't learned shit to prepare them for the shinobi world (or anything _about_ the shinobi world to be honest), Sasuke did the math. If everything Naruto said was true, then Momoichi Zabuza was hardly any older than they were, yet the differences between the two parties were glaringly obvious.

"Ah, those were the days," Zabuza's face took on an almost maniacal look. "I have to say, it sure was _fun_." Before the genin could even react, the clone moved. Flickering all too close to Sasuke, it delivered a series of attacks, and before he could blink, Sasuke was sent crashing down to the ground, coughing up blood.

"Damn it all," Naruto ground out, creating several shadow clones. Launching a full scale attack, clones managed to tackle and cover Zabuza, giving the original a moment's reprieve to think. However, puffs of smoke began to take shape and Zabuza's blade appeared through them, taking each and every clone down, the original included as Naruto joined the fray. As he went flying back, Naruto reached into his pack. "Sasuke, heads up!" he yelled before throwing a weapon to the other.

Sasuke leapt up to catch what turned out to be a folded windmill shuriken. Upon making contact with the weapon, his eyes widened. He got Naruto's message loud and clear. It was a pretty good plan, but he'll be damned if Naruto wasn't lucky that Sasuke knew what he was doing with a windmill shuriken because they sure as hell didn't learn how to use one at the Academy. Despite his injuries, Sasuke stood confidently, brandishing the shuriken with a flourish.

Ignoring Zabuza's claims that a simple shuriken wouldn't be able to take him down, Sasuke began his attack. High in the air, he mentally drew back his bow, zeroed in on his target, and threw the shuriken. It whizzed towards the real Zabuza with startling accuracy. As Sasuke landed, Zabuza caught the first shuriken. As the shuriken's shadow began to fade, a second shuriken took its place, aiming for Zabuza's midsection, and Sasuke smiled. When Zabuza leapt over it, still taunting the genin, Sasuke's smile widened into a smirk _._

He never missed.

The windmill shuriken disappeared with a puff of smoke, and Naruto appeared in his place. He held a determined look in his eyes as he sent out a kunai, straight for Zabuza's hand controlling the hydroprison. It was too high for the missing-nin to simply jump above it, and so he was forced to wrench his hand free so that it wouldn't be impaled by the kunai.

"Damned brat," Zabuza growled, about to hurl the windmill shuriken at the fair-haired genin. He tried to throw the weapon, but he met a hard resistance. Looking back in surprise, a drenched Kakashi was glaring darkly at him.

"Nice plan, Naruto," the jounin instructor acknowledged.

"Told you we weren't leaving without you," Naruto grinned cheekily from the water. "I'm not dumb enough to think I could kick his ass, but I'm smart enough to know that I could _trick_ his ass."

"Don't get cocky, I was distracted," Zabuza put on an apathetic front.

"Wrong, you were forced to release it by two _genin_ ," Kakashi corrected. "I'll let you know that I don't fall for the same technique twice, so you'll have to think of a new plan."

The two jounin separated from each other on the water. They both began an incredibly long sequence of hand seals, chanting in a methodic whisper as their hands flashed through the seals. If Sasuke didn't already know Kakashi was copying Zabuza with his Sharingan, he wouldn't have been able to tell who knew the technique better as two monstrous dragons erupted from the water, clashing with each other and sweeping up everything in their path. Naruto ducked under the water and did his best to avoid the collision, but he found himself being forced onto land.

Kakashi mirrored Zabuza's movements perfectly with each technique he pushed out, and as Sasuke watched the two fight, he saw a change in Zabuza. His eyes became the slightest bit frantic, and he was rapidly looking all around Kakashi. Eventually, Zabuza's movements stopped, but Kakashi's continued. A torrent of water was funneled at the missing-nin, and Zabuza was helpless to stop it. The water washed him up against a tree, and a strew of kunai dug into him, ensuring that he wasn't going anywhere.

Still in shock, Zabuza's eyes traveled up to the top of the tree, where Kakashi was perched with an ironic casualness reminiscent of the swordsman's initial appearance. For the first time since his appearance, Sasuke was seeing hints of the teenager— _the kid_ —Zabuza actually was. "How the hell...? Can you see the future?"

"Yeah," Kakashi stared down at him, Sharingan spinning. "You're going to die."

However, before Kakashi could deliver the finishing blow himself, a series of senbon hailed down from an unknown force, impaling Zabuza in the neck and surprising all present. Everyone turned to the direction the senbon had come from, and a shinobi stood in the trees. He wore a pinstriped shirt and pants under a green haori, tied with a brown sash. On his face was a white, porcelain mask decorated with two wave-like swirls on the bottom and the unmistakable symbol of the Hidden Mist Village on the top. The shinobi seemed to snicker, "You were right, he did die." Judging from the voice of the shinobi, he wasn't any older than Zabuza was. In fact, he sounded _younger_.

Kakashi stared at him suspiciously before jumping down to Zabuza and checking his pulse. Upon confirming Zabuza's death, Kakashi looked back up at the shinobi, "… You're a hunter from the Hidden Mist."

"And your target was Zabuza," Naruto said, squinting suspiciously at the shinobi despite his drenched state. "Why the hell didn't you show up sooner?"

"That is none of your concern. This battle is now over," The hunter-nin's body flickered to Zabuza's. "I must dispose of this body in order to protect its secrets. Farewell."

And with that, the hunter-nin was gone.

* * *

.: This fic is on ao3 under the same title and pen name, if that's something you're into *eye emoji*

Ionn like this chapter, so any feedback would be appreciated. Even if you drop it, let me know why, so I can try to make it more bearable for the ones who stay. Help a clock out, mate.

 _word count: 6.397_

clock-nim :.


	4. Showdown at the Bridge

.: Hey, it's been a while *eye emoji*

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. :.

* * *

"Fuck all trees," Naruto announced unceremoniously. Lying on his back and his face drenched with sweat, the fair-haired genin breathed slowly and tried to regain control of his lungs.

"Agreed," Sasuke exhaled heavily. Leaning against one of the infernal creations as he caught his breath, he wiped down his glasses with his shirt, trying to remember how he winded up in his current situation.

Kakashi had promptly passed out after the hunter-nin left.

In response, Naruto had rolled his eyes and explained to his teammates and Tazuna that the jounin had overused his Sharingan and would wake up sooner or later. Naruto and Sasuke then carried their jounin instructor to Tazuna's home where they were greeted by Tazuna's sweet daughter and mouthy grandson.

When Kakashi had finally woken up, he revealed to his genin that he believed there was a chance that Zabuza was still alive. It had bothered him that the hunter-nin hadn't disposed of Zabuza's body immediately as per the custom, and so he suspected that the other was an ally of Zabuza's. Despite the complaints of Tazuna's brat of a grandson, Team Seven began to prepare to face Zabuza in an eventual battle. Kakashi had tasked the three genin with what seemed to be a simple task to increase their chakra control, tree climbing.

Naruto and Sasuke soon realized that it was _anything_ but simple.

"And screw Sakura for being good at this shit," Naruto grumbled. Initially, he had been relatively excited for his teammate. Sakura didn't usually do well with physical tasks in comparison to Sasuke and him, so it was kind of cool to see her excel. Now though, he was singing a different tune. It had been a few hours since Sakura's success, and Naruto had yet to accomplish what she had done in a single try. He frowned, obviously displeased with his progress. "Since when is she so talented?"

"… It's not that she's _better_ than you, you know," Sasuke said slowly, casting Naruto a blurry glance. "Uzumaki were known for their large chakra reserves, right?" Sasuke saw the blond blur that was Naruto move slightly, so he assumed it was a nod. "With all the chakra you have, I doubt it's easy to control." He shrugged against the tree, "Sakura doesn't have as much chakra you, so it's going to be easier for her."

"… Huh," Naruto said after thinking over his teammate's words. "Thanks." He sat up halfway, leaning on his shoulders and offering the other boy a lazy grin, "This can't be easy for you either. Your reserves used to feel average during the Academy, but they're pretty massive now that you're using them. I bet you could bust out some kickass techniques." He then blinked owlishly as he remembered something. "You said you've seen Kakashi's Sharingan before." He quirked a brow, "You know him?"

Sasuke put his glasses back on. "Kind of."

"How you do 'kind of' know someone?" Naruto asked with a snort.

Sasuke flushed, "He used to walk me home from the Academy when I was starting out." At Naruto's incredulous look, he shook his head, "I have no idea how Toshio got him to do it. I think they're friends… kind of." His flush deepened when an amused smile spread across Naruto's lips at his choice of words.

"Toshio's got the crazy white hair, right?" Sasuke nodded, and Naruto made a face. "Your roommate is weird as fuck, no offense. All his friends are older than him, and I've never seen him around the village without a carton of milk."

"He's not _weird_ , he's…" Sasuke struggled to find the words he wanted to say, "he's from the grasslands."

"He's from the Hidden Grass, but he's got poisons that smell like the missing idiots from the Mist?" Naruto gave Sasuke a look, "Weird as fuck, that one. I'd be concerned if I were you. What if he broke out of Hozuki?"

"I kind of doubt that because he's a _war refugee_ ," Sasuke had an uncharacteristically dark look in his eyes, daring Naruto to say anything.

"Never mind," Naruto sobered up immediately. "He can be as weird as he wants. War fucks with you on so many levels…"

Sasuke sighed, "It really does…" They sat in silence before the dark-haired boy made a quiet confession. "I never want to go to war. Too many innocent people are dragged in, and they end up losing their lives."

"Toshio's not from a shinobi clan." He wasn't guessing. Naruto now understood that the grasslands didn't mean the shinobi village, it meant the small country between Fire and Earth that served as one of the major terrains for the Third Shinobi World War.

"They were _botanists_ , Naruto. They lived in the north, and only a few ever went down to Grass to become formal shinobi." He drew into himself instinctively, "Stone made the leap from botany to toxicology, and suddenly, they were a threat that had to be dealt with."

"That's… I can see why you don't like war," Naruto said quietly.

"Yeah…" Sasuke gave a heavy sigh. "Kakashi ended up finding Toshio when the fighting was almost over, and his old team rescued him. That's why they're … whatever they are. They're not really friends, but Kakashi cares."

Naruto's eyes widened, "My _dad's_ team found him?" At Sasuke's nod, he leaned back into the tree. "Huh," that put things into perspective for Naruto. He knew his dad was a war hero, and he knew that the man had been instrumental in the efforts to bring refugees into the village, but he'd never really met any of the people his dad had personally saved. He knew they were out there, but he'd never thought about them as anything other than a collective before. "… Did Kakashi save you too?" His teasing smile lightened the mood, "You've seen his Sharingan, but nothing really dangerous happens on the roads leading to the Academy."

"Actually, I never saw his Sharingan before the fight," Sasuke admitted. "I didn't even know there were eye techniques like that aside from the Byakugan until he lifted up his forehead protector." He looked to Naruto, terribly confused. "I even remember a _pair_ of Sharingan, but I have no idea who they'd belong too."

"If you saw a pair, then you had to have seen an Uchiha," Naruto said slowly. When he saw that Sasuke didn't recognize the name, he elaborated. "That's the clan the Sharingan originally belongs to. Kakashi has one because his eye got messed up during the war, and one of his teammates was an Uchiha. Obito was dying, and he wanted Kakashi to have it." He shook his head, not wanting to dwell on the story. "But all of the Uchiha are dead now, so there's no way…" After a moment, Naruto took back his statement. "Well, not _all_ of them are dead, but there's no way you saw _his_."

"Who?"

"… Uchiha Itachi," Naruto replied carefully. "He's the last one alive, but he hasn't been in the village for years," he shook his head. "There's no way you would know him."

"Why isn't he in the village anymore?" Sasuke raised a brow, frowning in confusion. He'd never even heard about the Uchiha clan before, but if they had eye techniques like the Hyuuga clan, wouldn't people talk about them? A recent clan epidemic should have been in their textbooks, especially if the lone survivor of the clan had left the village.

"I… I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone, and you _really_ can't tell anyone you heard it from me," Naruto locked eyes with his teammate. "This is so fucking serious, Sasuke, you have no idea. I'm not even supposed to know; I was just being a nosy little shit with my dad's paperwork when it happened. If my dad knew I read those reports…" He shook his head, "Nope, not even going to think about it."

Naruto sighed before meeting Sasuke's eyes again, "The official statement was that there was fighting inside the clan, and they killed each other off. That happens with bloodline limit clans too much to _not_ be believable, but it's actually worse that." He couldn't hide his grimace, "It was basically a massacre, and Itachi's the one who killed them all."

Sasuke's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open in a blatantly surprised gape. "What? How… how is that even possible?"

"He was a genius," Naruto explained uneasily. "He was ANBU by the time he was our age… everyone thought he was one of the village's best. He snapped after he became a commander though. He was only thirteen, so I guess the pressure got to him," Naruto swallowed thickly, "One night, he just killed everyone and escaped. He was so quiet that no one even noticed it until the next morning. Not a single Uchiha showed up to their scheduled posts, so people went looking, and they found a bunch of _dead people_. By then, Itachi was gone." Naruto shook his head, "It's just so messed up. Even now, he's barely older than us, younger than fucking _Zabuza_ , but he killed every single person in his clan, all in one night."

Sasuke took in the information quietly, unsure of how he could even begin to respond. "That… that's _horrible_." He looked to his teammate, "No one knows why he did it?" Naruto shook his head silently, and Sasuke looked down.

It terrified him.

One day, you were the pride of both your clan and village, but the next day… you were slaughtering your loved ones without reason. Sasuke shivered at the thought. He hadn't even known the Uchiha clan _existed_ until a few minutes earlier, but he prayed they were resting as peacefully as they could. They were never mentioned in the textbooks or around the village, and because of the false statement, their district was probably sealed without giving the clan members a proper funeral. It was such a sad fate for what Sasuke assumed to be a great clan.

"But I wonder whose eyes you saw," Naruto muttered quietly. He shook his head, "They're probably dead now anyway." He turned to look at Sasuke, studying the other silently as he thought back to what he knew about the Uchiha clan. It was weird how much Sasuke looked like he would fit in with them… it wasn't possible though. He gave a slight shake of the head. Sasuke had been an orphan his entire life, and there was no way in hell the Uchiha would dump their bloodline into the orphanage system like that.

It'd be an interesting twist of fate, but Naruto was glad there was no chance of it. Sasuke wore an ever-deepening frown as he processed the Uchiha clan's story. They were thoroughly fucked up, and Naruto didn't know what his teammate's response would be if he ended up being related to them. "Hey, Sasuke." When his teammate turned to look at him, Naruto grinned, "I bet I can get to the top of the tree before you do."

Sasuke stared at him quizzically before a small smile took over the frown on his face, "Yeah, sure."

:: ::

"… Who are you?" Sasuke cast a blurry gaze on the person next to Naruto as he felt around for his glasses. It was early morning. He and Naruto had ended up sleeping in the forest because they were too tired to go back to Tazuna's house, and Sasuke was fairly certain there hadn't been a third person with them the night before.

"And _why_ are you so close to me?" Sasuke found his glasses, and in the new clarity, he could see Naruto suspiciously eyeing a long-haired girl staring down at him. She looked harmless enough, but then again, she had snuck up on them while they were sleeping, so all bets were off.

"You two were sleeping so peacefully," the girl wore an amused smile as she leaned back while Naruto sat up, "but you're going to catch a cold resting in a place like this."

"We'll take our chances," Naruto deadpanned.

"If you say so," the girl shrugged. "I was just trying to help you."

"Sis, if you really wanted to help us out, you would've woken us up," Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're not the brightest medic, are you?"

The girl raised a brow, "… Why do you think I'm a medic?"

"…We're surrounded by calendula," Sasuke looked around at the golden flowers he and Naruto had been sleeping in. "They're good at stopping blood flow and can treat most wounds."

"You definitely live with a botanist," Naruto said with a laugh. "I was just gonna call them marigolds." He looked back to the girl, "I'm sure you could be picking them because you think they're pretty or something, but you're out here so early for a reason. You're going to spend your day making salves and treating people."

The girl was initially surprised, but she soon smiled, "You're right. I'm collecting these flowers to treat someone I care about. Getting up early is the least I can do for them." She then addressed the two genin, "I'm sure you both can understand that, being motivated by your love for others. After all, you're shinobi. When you want to protect someone important to you, that's when your strengths truly show."

"Yeah… we can understand," Naruto nodded slowly, lazily plucking a flower from the ground. "When you really love someone, you'll go to the ends of the earth for them." He dropped the flower into the girl's basket and gave her a lopsided smile. "You might even do something you'll eventually regret."

"You might," the girl acknowledged, closing the lid on her basket. "But if you can see your loved ones happy, it's worth the regrets." She stood and gave Naruto a polite smile, "It'd be nice to continue this conversation some other time."

"Uh huh," Naruto replied dryly. As the girl began to walk away, he added, "Tell Zabuza 'hi' for me, will you, Sis?"

"… I'm not a girl," The newly-exposed hunter-nin paused in his departure. "However, I look forward to seeing which love is stronger," he continued, "mine for Zabuza-san or yours for a mere client." He then continued to walk away just as leisurely as he had begun.

Sasuke turned to Naruto when the hunter-nin was gone, still somewhat shocked by the final exchanges. "… Why were you so sure he's the fake hunter-nin?"

"We hid our forehead protectors and weapons in the bushes… _with transformation tags_ ," Naruto reminded the other. "We're not even sleeping by the trees we were marking. He had to have recognized us from the last fight."

"But most of the civilians know we're outsiders who came to protect Tazuna," Sasuke replied just as easily. He knew his teammate wouldn't have been so confident without a good reason. "He didn't just recognize us, _you_ recognized _him_. How?"

"You know how I said enemies all feel the same to me?" At Sasuke's disbelieving stare, Naruto grinned cheekily and shook his head, "They don't. It's the chakra I can feel." He snorted, "I don't think it's possible to feel… I don't know, the _evil_ in someone?" he gave a short laugh before continuing. "Anyway, the idiot woke me up with how annoyingly _close_ his chakra was to me. You were the only shinobi-level reserves I went to sleep next to, and I could feel that you hadn't moved much." He paused briefly, "Oh, and yeah, I remembered his chakra from the fight."

Sasuke was now viewing his teammate in a different light. "… What does killing intent feel like for you?"

"You _really_ don't want to know."

:: ::

"I have had e-fucking-nough of that kid's bullshit, you know," Naruto gave Sasuke a look. "How can he spout so much shit about there being no more heroes in the when we _literally_ came here to save his country?"

The two were once again in the forest. However, instead of being in the base of their respective trees or in a patch of medicinal flowers, they were both comfortably perched on the highest branches that could support their bodies. Naruto had started in on Tazuna's grandson during a lull of silence, and it had become very clear to Sasuke that his teammate didn't exactly favor the little kid.

"Well, who's the best example of a hero to you?" Sasuke asked in reply. "Lord Hokage?"

"My _dad_ ," Naruto corrected in annoyance.

"Sorry," Sasuke winced. "That's kind of my point though. Your hero is your dad, just like Inari's hero is his dad, but he lost his hero. _Your_ dad is still around, so you've never had that loss." He looked to the blond perched in the adjacent tree, "But you can still try to understand that it's hard for a little kid to have a _dead dad_."

Naruto took a moment of silence to stare at Sasuke blankly. "… You know, you really piss me off sometimes." He could honestly say that he liked having Sasuke as his teammate. The other genin wasn't a terrible shinobi, and he actually _knew_ that Naruto shouldn't be treated like a carbon copy of his father. However, the fact that Sasuke didn't let him get away with shit as much as everyone else did was pretty annoying. He guessed it was supposed to be a blessing in disguise, but Naruto wasn't sure he'd be giving thanks at the family shrine any time soon. "You're right way too much."

"… I'm sorry?" Sasuke tried, unsure of how exactly he was supposed to respond.

"That's a _compliment_ ," Naruto said with a laugh, grinning in amusement.

"Oh… thank you, then," the other pushed up his glasses carefully.

Naruto's grin widened.

:: ::

Team Seven walked with Tazuna to the building site, Sakura keeping the old man occupied with friendly conversation. However, before they got too far, Naruto paused. When Sasuke looked to him in question, the other genin merely tilted his head back in the direction they came from. "It's still pissing me off," he muttered under his breath. Without waiting for a reply, Naruto started back towards the bridge builders house.

"Uh…" Sasuke blinked owlishly at his teammate's retreating form. "We just lost Naruto, Kakashi-sensei."

The other three turned to see what Sasuke was talking about, and Kakashi quite literally face-palmed when he realized his student wasn't going to be coming back any time soon.

"Where is he going?" Tazuna asked incredulously.

"Back to the house?" Sakura guessed. She looked to Sasuke in question. "He's not still tired from the tree-walking, is he?"

"He got up to come to bridge with us, but he's already going back because he's tired?" The incredulous tone had yet to leave the bridge builder's voice. "You want me to put my life in _his_ hands?"

"Well, you've been doing exactly that up until now," Kakashi deadpanned in reply. "Another day wouldn't hurt." He then zeroed in on his other male student, "However, to alleviate our worries, Sasuke, _what exactly_ is Naruto going back to Tazuna-san's house for?

"He _might_ be talking to Inari about his opinion on heroes… maybe," Sasuke guessed, unwilling to meet his teacher's gaze. It was the best he could come up with. While his teammate wasn't as annoyed with Tazuna's grandson as he had been the day before, Sasuke knew that Naruto still couldn't reconcile with the idea that there weren't any more heroes in the world. He didn't think the other would go back for simply that reason, but then again, Naruto did whatever the hell he wanted a majority of the time.

"I'd believe it…" Kakashi trailed off with a sigh. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. Might as well keep going."

"But, Sensei, what if today's the day Zabuza comes back?" Sakura asked. "We're going to need Naruto-kun's help to beat him!"

"Don't jinx us now, Sakura," Kakashi replied teasingly.

However, when they came upon the bridge, the scent of blood had permeated the area. The bodies of the workers were strewn about the bridge with fresh wounds, and with every step Team Seven took, a mist began to grow thicker around them.

Sasuke resisted the urge to curse Sakura as a kunai slipped into his waiting hand. Despite himself, his body began to tremble as he anticipated the upcoming battle, joining Kakashi and Sakura in a protective formation around Tazuna. The grip on his kunai tightened as he tried to calm his nerves.

" _Long time no see, Kakashi,"_ Zabuza's voice permeated the mist and echoed all around them. _"Looks like you still have those brats with you… and look at our little four-eyes… shaking_ again _. Poor kid, still scared."_

The mist slightly lifted, and the group found themselves surrounded by carbon copies of the swordsman. As Kakashi scanned over them, looking for the real Zabuza, he took in his students' reactions. Sakura gasped at the sheer number of them, and Sasuke… the jounin paused, studying the dark-haired genin's form. That… was an interesting reaction.

As Sasuke's eyes took in the multiple swordsmen, he felt something brewing inside of him. "This isn't fear…" Sasuke whispered, almost shocked at the realization. He met eyes with one of the swordsman's duplicates, and a dangerously saccharine smile graced his lips, "This is _excitement_."

"Sasuke," Kakashi was amused. While he knew that Sasuke seemingly getting a high off Zabuza's chakra could end up being a problem, he would worry about that later. Instead, he gave his genin a simple command, "Have fun."

A second kunai slid into Sasuke's hand, and he moved. It was like an effortless dance, not an ounce of energy through the copies with a dangerous grace, Sasuke dealt fatal blows. Using the pressure from the transformed water to keep himself going, Sasuke pushed off of each clone before they dispersed, freely travelling through the air. Like a deadly acrobat, he took out each clone without getting a single drop of water on himself. After slitting the throat of the final swordsman, Sasuke landed on the ground lightly, a ring of water encircling his team and the bridge builder. He stared through the mist and down the bridge at the real Zabuza, who had observed his actions with the false hunter-nin by his side.

"Sasuke… that was so cool," Sakura stared in awe.

Before he could think to reply, Sasuke noticed a shift in the stance of the masked enemy, and his eyes widened when the shinobi disappeared in a whirlwind headed towards him. He instinctively switched to a reverse hold on his kunai and shifted his own stance. When the distance between the two had lessened, Sasuke ducked and swept out his leg, bringing up an arm to block an attack from senbon. He stared into the enemy's porcelain mask, waiting.

"You know, I still don't want to kill you," Sasuke recognized the voice he had previously heard in the forest. "You won't stand down though, will you?"

"Why would I?" Sasuke's reply was short as he tried to focus on his surroundings. He wouldn't match the voice he was hearing to the smiling face he had seen days earlier. He wouldn't let the enemy catch him off guard.

"Well, you're at a greater disadvantage than I am," the false hunter-nin replied. "One of your hands is occupied, and thanks to you, I'm surrounded by all of this water. I can easily put you on the defensive." He then made seals with a signal hand.

Sasuke didn't have time to get a rein on his surprise, and his eyes were wide as the water from Zabuza's clones suddenly rose. Gathering together into thin slivers, they began to sharpen, and the clear target was Sasuke. He took a breath and closed his eyes, reminding himself to stay calm. Raising his hand up in a half-ram, he began to mold his chakra. Just as he felt the masked shinobi pull away from him, Sasuke shot up into the air. Wearing the smallest smile of satisfaction, he sent a hail of shuriken at the enemy, forcing him to move backwards. With a destination in sight, Sasuke landed right behind his opponent. His smile widened into a smirk, "What were you saying about being put on the defensive?"

Each strike was meant to drive the false hunter-nin into a corner. Finally, Sasuke's eyes widened when saw his opening. Rooting his hand to ground with chakra, Sasuke pushed off into a flip, connecting a kick to the stomach of the masked shinobi, sending him flying back to Zabuza. He then completed the flip gracefully, pushing up his glasses with a satisfied smirk tugging at his lips.

"Light on your feet, aren't you…" Zabuza noted, mentally reevaluating Sasuke.

"Well, I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them _simple_ brats," Kakashi said. "Sakura's one of the village's brightest young minds, the one who just rearranged your subordinate's internal organs is the village's no clan wonder, and you already know the absentee blonde shares the blood of the Nine Tails jinchuuriki and the Hokage himself." He mused, "They're hardly average."

"Huh," Zabuza stared at them for a moment before he addressed his partner. "Haku, are you going to let yourself get beaten like this?

"…You're right, Zabuza-san," Haku stood. The air began to chill, and each breath taken became visible. "We can't let that happen."

Sasuke took out two kunai, shifting into a defensive stance as he cast an uncertain gaze on the false hunter-nin. As the masked shinobi went through a chain of seals, a sinking feeling began to overtake Sasuke when he realized he couldn't recognize any that were formed. He tried to look back at his instructor in question, but he was met with a reflection of himself. Eyes wide with shock, he looked around to see that he'd been encased by sheets of ice both above and around him. Each was perfectly smooth with a reflective surface that blocked out the rest of the world. A porcelain mask then bled onto the surface, and the masked shinobi appeared in all the mirrors.

"Well, shall we begin?" Haku asked. "I think you'll find yourself on the defensive on this time."

:: ::

"Huh, the kid's not that bad once you help him save his mom," Naruto chuckled to himself as he headed down the roads leading to Tazuna's building site. "Still a little annoying, but nothing compared to the shit I put up with Konohamaru… that one's a _major_ pain in the ass."

A frown came over his face as he came closer to the bridge, "Two too many shinobi reserves… dammit. Gatou's tired of waiting." With each step he took, Naruto felt a chill grow stronger despite the sunny skies he had left behind at the bridge builder's house. When the mist-cloaked bridge came into sight, the blonde was shocked at what he saw. "No way… that asshole was hiding _that_ much chakra?"

:: ::

Sasuke should've been dead.

His body had been slashed at every angle with senbon, but none of the attacks had been critical. The masked shinobi hadn't missed his mark, Sasuke knew, but that would mean the false hunter-nin… didn't want to hunt him. Then why put him a prison of ice? Why use… projections or clones, Sasuke couldn't tell, to weaken him with attacks from all around? The odds were completely in the enemy's favor, but Sasuke was still alive, and it made _no sense._

"Why is he bleeding his chakra into these weird ass mirrors?" Sasuke's eyes widened at the familiar voice. "I mean, thanks for draining your own reserves, but still…." He turned to see Naruto studying the mirrored prison he had just entered. When he noticed the other, Naruto nodded to him, "'Sup."

"Naruto, _what_ are you doing in here?" Sasuke asked icily. Not that he didn't appreciate his teammate's help, he just didn't see how having both of them inside the mirrors was going to do any good.

"Hey, I'm here to save _your_ ass. Be a little more grateful, Sasuke- _chan_ ," Naruto gave him a look. He then cracked his knuckles, "Know any fire techniques? I know a couple of wind ones, so I can give you a boost. If these are ice mirrors, we can just melt them."

"Fire won't melt this kind of ice," the false hunter-nin said in amusement. Before the two could think of another plan, he attacked them, sending them flying back.

"Thanks for the tip, asshole," Naruto smirked cockily despite his injuries. "If this is ice that _can't_ be melted, then it's probably a bloodline limit, isn't it?" He looked at Sasuke, "We're just going to have to find the real one and take him out the old-fashioned way."

"Your eyes will never be able to track me." The porcelain mask appeared in each mirror, and their enemy's voice echoed through the ice chamber.

"My eyes don't have to track you," Naruto spoke in a whiny voice as his mimicked his enemy. Making a single seal, shadow clones popped into existence. All but two of the clones launched into the ice mirrors while Sasuke and Naruto waited on high alert. Each clone was promptly taken out of commission and the remaining on the ground were attacked, leaving Naruto and Sasuke by themselves once again.

"… Huh, there's only one," Naruto said, piecing the memories of his clones together. "He's using the mirrors to travel and project himself. It has to be a bloodline, there's no way for a normal person to be able to do that."

"So… it's a speed technique?" Sasuke asked. He eyed one of the reflections, "Why'd you say we don't have to track him? That makes no sense."

"I said _I_ don't have to track him," Naruto grinned at his teammate. "You're faster than me, so you're more likely to see that kind of speed than I am. I'm still gonna try, but I'm trusting you to pick up my slack."

Sasuke stared at Naruto silently before he shook his head.

"It's a shame, leaving him with all the work," the masked shinobi broke into their conversation, his voice echoing through the mirrors. "If that's the extent of your love for your client, there's no way you can defeat me. I'm fighting to keep someone's dreams alive." Something about their enemy then… shifted, "I don't want to kill you, but if you continue to get in the way, I will destroy my kind heart with a blade and become a _true_ shinobi." His voice then became venomous, "I will kill you."

Naruto smirked, "Then kill us."

:: ::

Sakura's scream ricocheted through the prison of mirrors, Sasuke violently flinching at the sound. He forced himself to focus on his own fight, knowing that he would only meet his reflection if he tried to search for his teammate. As another hail of senbon came raining down on them, the dark-haired genin defended himself as best as he could. What hadn't they tried yet?

Naruto cast a concerned gaze over Sasuke's reaction, slightly regretting putting the other on the spot. However, he noticed his earlier predictions had been right. Even though the other had been in the technique longer than he had, Sasuke was visibly less scratched up than he was. Naruto didn't know if his teammate was aware he was doing it, but Sasuke was getting used to the high-speed attacks. "… Any luck?"

"Not yet," Sasuke replied, growing frustrated with himself. "I think he's slowing down though, there has to be a limit to his chakra." He held his kunai in a reverse grip, preparing himself for the next attack. He needed to concentrate, to focus… wait, _focus_? Would something like that work, even with his glasses?

Concentrating a small burst of chakra to his eyes, Sasuke's eyes widened, and the world exploded into a clarity he'd never experienced before.

Sasuke blinked, and the false hunter-nin seemed to slow. "Naruto, left!"

Naruto's responded to his teammate's voice and moved. A senbon barely grazed his leg, others ripping through his clothes, but not touching him. He looked to Sasuke, a knowing grin on his face, "You got him marked."

"I can _see_ him," Sasuke replied, surprised at the revelation.

"Those eyes…" The masked shinobi whispered. "The Sharingan? … So, the clan less boy _does_ have a clan after all, and what a clan it is."

"… What?" Sasuke's hands instinctively went towards his eyes, and they accidentally pushed up his slipping glasses. Suddenly, the world returned to how he normally saw things with his glasses. Confused, he slid them down slightly and looked above his lenses at the sharp clarity he had recently achieved. Looking down through his lenses, it returned to his normal vision.

"… Sasuke, look at me for a sec," Naruto's voice was quiet. When Sasuke looked his way, Naruto's eyes widened. "… Shit. Sasuke, you've got 'em… it's not as developed as Kakashi's, but _holy shit_ , you got them." He stared at the blood red irises, two tomoe in the right, and one in the left. "Your eyes are fucking _red_."

Naruto's eyes then widened even more when he felt a dangerously large buildup of chakra behind Sasuke, a piercing headache brewing. He pushed his teammate down, taking the brunt of an attack made up of both ice and senbon as he slashed blindly. The cold wracked his body even more intensely than before. Blood came up on its own accord, and he could only violently cough it out. That _definitely_ wasn't a good sign.

"Naruto, what—?" Sasuke cut himself off when he realized what had happened. "You… what the hell did you just do?" His hands began to shake.

"I… I don't fucking know…" Naruto spoke in a weakened voice. "I just… my body… _so much chakra_ … and I just… moved…"

"But… why me? Why would you save _me_?" Sasuke asked, becoming the slightest bit hysterical. "You can't…" He could say the word, "You're the _Hokage's son_!"

"Heh, lots of those…" Naruto bit back with a chuckle. His body began to waver, and he fell backwards into Sasuke. "You're… you're the last Uchiha… You…you can't die…"

Sasuke's eyes became heavy with tears threatening to spill out. He held Naruto, his teammate, _his friend,_ wanting to shed his tears for the other, but he couldn't. There was still a fight going on. He heard the masked shinobi speaking to him, but his words went in one ear and out the other. Sasuke only heard one voice, and he heard it loud and clear.

 _ **The time has come.**_

In response, Sasuke did the only thing he could do.

He snapped.

:: ::

Chakra began to pour out of the boy's body, a light blue that in any other situation would have been calming to Haku. The boy gently set down his teammate's body and then rose slowly to face Haku, chakra flaring up around him, nearly shielding his body from sight. His eyes clouded over until they were almost white, the red of his Sharingan barely coming through as a milky pink.

Haku watched with trepidation as each of his injuries began to heal. They didn't simply close though. Thin layers were falling from the genin's body as if he was shedding his skin, piece by piece. Before they could hit the ground, the chakra consumed it. Scales seemed to fall from the boy's eyes, and when he blinked the cloudiness was gone. His eyes were red with the Sharingan, but his pupil was also long and thin, like a snake's. He narrowed his eyes at Haku dangerously, and the masked shinobi was starting to see what the blond boy had meant by doing something he would eventually regret.

Haku had only wanted to put the boys down long enough for Zabuza to complete his job, but incapacitating the blond had triggered something in the other boy Haku hadn't expected. He launched himself at Haku, the light blue chakra protecting him from any and all senbon. As Haku fled into another mirror, the boy crashed into the one he had left, shattering it into pieces. The boy chased after him with incredibly speed, unfazed by the shards trying—and failing—to cut into him. His body bent and twisted beyond human norms as he changed direction with every move Haku made, and he was getting dangerously close with every mirror he destroyed.

Today might be the day Haku died.

It took that moment of hesitation for the boy to get a hold of him. No matter how much Haku jerked, the boy's grip held firm. Wrenching Haku down with an inhuman strength, the boy's foot collided with his mask, and Haku was sent crashing through another mirror. As his mask fell, shattered, the boy was instantly by his side, sending him flying once more.

This boy was possessed, Haku decided. It was a ghost, a revenge-seeking spirit of the dead Sharingan warriors, a _monster_. He struggled to stand, to get away from whatever it was that was driving the boy's body. The boy's body approached him slowly, a predator who knew his prey was too weak to get away. Haku sent his apologies to Zabuza.

He was a failure of a tool.

Suddenly, the blue chakra began to tame itself, and the boy's eyes fluttered before he collapsed. Haku stared in shock, the relief he wanted to feel stifled by sheer confusion. Had the spirit retreated? Was the boy in control of his body again or was this just another trick? He weakly threw a senbon at the other, just to be sure. However, the chakra once again flared to life and deflected it.

So, the spirit was only hostile if Haku attacked. Warning heard loud and clear.

:: ::

Sasuke awoke in a dark hallway, completely unharmed. "…What just happened?" He looked around at his surroundings in confusion as his disorientation began to fade. The hallway was made of dark stone walls in pristine condition. A deep chuckle surrounded him, and fire pots came to life with an ominous glow.

" _Sasuke-kun… Sasuke-kun…"_

Eyes narrowed with trepidation, Sasuke slowly followed the eerily saccharine voice that called his name. He doubted that was the wisest decision he could have made, but he needed answers. Eventually, he came to a large, open area, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

" _Sasuke-kun… ah, you've finally arrived."_

Waiting for his arrival was a feathered dragon, pristine white coloring contrasting heavily with the dark setting. The feathers at the top of its head formed a headdress, hints of purple and gold feathering out into a rather regal appearance. Giant wings were at rest and golden eyes filled were with amusement.

Although it wasn't blatantly being restricted by anything, Sasuke's forward steps led his feet to eventually meet a long, unraveled scroll. Patches of text were missing, but Sasuke was sure there was a force at work that he couldn't see. As he carefully walked closer, Sasuke realized that there was a thin coating of chakra that acted as a wall, separating him from the beast in the seemingly unconfined area. His eyes were then drawn back to the scroll.

"Where… where am I, and who are you?" Sasuke asked, willing his voice to remain calm as he looked up from the scroll to winged creature.

" _Oh?"_ The dragon seemed to smirk in amusement. _"You've never heard of me?"_ He chuckled, _"I suppose that's fine. Soon enough, you'll learn more than you'll ever have wanted to know. For now… I congratulate you on finding your way into my humble abode, Sasuke-kun. I am Zore, and you are my vessel."_

"… I'm your _vessel_?" Sasuke didn't understand. Too many thoughts were swirling around in his head, and he didn't know where to begin in processing them. He was talking to a dragon that was apparently _inside of him_. "What _are_ you?"

" _Like I said, you'll learn soon enough,"_ Zore replied, letting out a low chuckle. _"I brought you here for a reason though, Sasuke-kun. With the awakening of your Sharingan, you're expected to start your service in a timely manner. Of course, others are needed, but make no mistake,"_ the dragon fixed Sasuke with a stare, " _you_ will _be casting judgement in my stead."_

Instinctively taking a step back due to the intensity of the beast's gaze, Sasuke was almost afraid to ask, "… Why _me_?"

" _A story for another time,"_ the dragon seemed to smirk in reply. _"Now, go back to your team, Sasuke-kun. I don't doubt that we will be seeing each other again."_

* * *

.: So much yet so little happened in this chapter lmao.

I _adore_ the idea of jinchuuriki being forcibly pulled under by whatever's sealed in them. Zore's a lovely fellow :'D He'll be back eventually, I promise.

Wave Arc ends here, and we'll look at less canon-compliant issues next chapter. ^8^

 _word count: 6.764_

clock-nim :.


	5. A Moment's Pause

.: Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. :.

* * *

It'd been a few days since Team Seven had returned from the Land of Waves, and Naruto had yet to make complete sense of their mission. Actually, Naruto's problem wasn't with the mission itself, it was more with whatever the hell Sasuke had done during the fight against the masked asshole after Naruto had been knocked out.

Zabuza and his lackey were both dead when Naruto had woken up, but Kakashi had had a lot to less to do with their deaths than Naruto had expected. Zabuza had died fighting Gatou's goons, and the fake hunter-nin's death by Kakashi's hand had been a _technicality_. Even if he hadn't put himself in front of Kakashi's Lightning Cutter, the masked shinobi still would have died, and it would have been _Sasuke's_ doing. Quiet, pacifistic Sasuke who never wanted to go war had beaten their enemy within an inch of his life.

The best part was that Naruto's teammate didn't remember _any_ of it.

It had taken Sasuke days to wake up after he had mysteriously fallen unconscious. Tazuna had almost completed the bridge by that time, appropriately deciding to name it the Bridge of Heroes for Team Seven's collective actions. However, when Kakashi had asked the genin to explain _his_ actions, Sasuke hadn't been able to.

And then, there was the Sharingan, which _of course_ , Sasuke just had to go and awaken for the first time and let a clan as messed up as the _Uchiha_ claim him as one of their own.

He hadn't been able to remember that either.

Naruto had to _remind_ him.

But as weird as it was to try to reconcile with his teammate's ancestry, it was even weirder for Naruto to reconcile with the fact that no one had ever _mentioned_ said ancestry before. Sasuke himself hadn't even _known_ that an Uchiha clan had existed in the village at some point, and that made no sense to Naruto. From what he knew about the Uchiha, they were both the co-founders of the village with the Senju and as full of themselves as the Hyuuga. They would never let one of their own get lost in the orphanage system or be unaware of their clan, but they had done _just that._

And Naruto couldn't help but wonder if the reasoning behind it had anything to do with Sasuke's unexplained actions in the Land of Waves.

There was no way he could figure it out on his own, so Naruto went to his father. He had already promised to help Naruto with his sealing, so Naruto figured asking about it when his father was in a good mood was his best chance at not getting in trouble for being so nosy about what was without a doubt a village secret. With a friendly greeting to the guards at the door, Naruto slipped in his father's office with a grin on his face. "Hey, Dad!"

His father looked up from his paperwork, giving his son a smile, "Hi, Naruto. We'll head for the training grounds soon. I just need to finish these for the Academy."

Taking in the large bundles of documents his father was going through, Naruto's grin faded to an understanding smile as he walked further into the office. "The new session is starting next week, right?"

"And the remedial session your classmates went through ended yesterday," his father nodded, setting aside one stack of papers and picking up another. "It's incredibly busy at the Academy right now, and that means more paperwork than usual." He gave his son a teasing smile, "When I give you this hat, you'll get all these documents to yourself."

"Can't wait," Naruto laughed. When his father beckoned him closer to his desk, Naruto made a promise, "And you won't have to give it to me, I'm going to earn it."

His father chuckled, "I don't doubt that for a second, Naruto." After signing the last in another set of documents, the Hokage rearranged his desk, making room for his son to sit down. "Do you remember when you were small enough to sit in my lap while I worked?"

Naruto gave a snort as he eased himself onto his father's desk. "I learned more about the shinobi world sitting in your lap than I did at the Academy." At his father's amused headshake, Naruto deadpanned. "No, really. The girl on my team, Ino's friend? She doesn't even know which countries near us have shinobi villages, and she was one of the most book smart people in our class."

Naruto's father blinked, pausing in his paperwork, "Things are different in peacetime, but that is definitely pushing it." He sighed, musing his hair in steadily growing annoyance. "When we made the decision to lighten up after the war, I didn't think we'd lightened up _that_ much."

"The only clan kid not in the top of the class was Shikamaru," Naruto informed his father. He gave an amused snort, "And that's only 'cause he was too lazy to do anything."

The Hokage took a moment to digest that piece of information, leaning back in his chair. Finally, he nodded to himself, "I'll review the last few reports that were sent in and have a meeting setup to discuss a new curriculum structure."

"That sounds like more paperwork," Naruto noted with a grimace. As much as he didn't want to ask, he knew he had to do it. "… Do you want me to come back later? Kakashi's gonna be on his mission for at least a week, and we're technically on a break until he comes back." He forced a casual shrug, "You can look at my seals whenever."

His father shook his head, "No, no, I'll do it today. I promised to help you weeks ago, and I'm not pushing it back any longer." After making quick notes, he turned to his son. "Besides, reworking the Academy curriculum isn't something that can be done overnight. I don't expect something to be finalized until your brother starts."

Naruto blinked owlishly. "My brother hasn't even been _born_ yet."

"And depending on how long it takes us to find the balance," Minato replied, his smile the slightest bit strained, "your brother might be in the first class with an appropriately restructured curriculum throughout the entire program." At Naruto's disbelieving stare, his father explained further, shifting more of his attention from his paperwork to his son, "Not everybody who enrolls in the Academy actually becomes a shinobi, even out of those who do remedial lessons. Because of that, there are some things that we leave for jounin instructors to teach their teams or only teach during wartime, when the graduation rate is higher."

Setting aside another set of completed documents, Naruto's father picked up yet another. "I have my own opinions about what the curriculum should look like, as do the elders and the advisory council. We also have to take input from the chunin instructors and the odd civilian petition." An amused smile ghosted across his face, "Getting all of those people to agree on how many village secrets should be revealed during peacetime won't be an easy feat."

Naruto saw his chance, and he took it. "Speaking of village secrets…" He gave his father a careful glance, "How much trouble can I get into for leaving something out of a mission report?"

"If you're referring to Sasuke's Sharingan, it wasn't left out of the mission report, so you won't get in trouble," the Fourth Hokage didn't miss a beat. After he set aside another set of documents, he turned to his shocked son. "In any other situation, it would depend on the relevancy of the information you left out. Kakashi will have you practice writing mission reports soon. By the time you have to write your own reports, you'll have a good feel for it."

"… _How_?" Naruto knew his father was a man of many talents, but clairvoyance wasn't one of them.

His father gave him a look, "There's only one reason you would use village secrets as a conversation segue." He raised a brow, "Unless you have something else you'd like to tell me?"

"Nope," Naruto shook his head swiftly. He then sheepishly added onto his statement, giving his father the most innocent look he could muster up, "But I was kinda hoping you explain _why_ he was in the system in the first place?"

"I'm not surprised," his father chuckled as he set aside another stack of papers. "You already know about Sasuke's heritage, so now you want context." He gave his son his full attention, "How many seals are active in my office right now?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his father in confusion before he shifted on the desk slightly. As he scanned the room, he mentally checked off each subtle hum of his father's chakra that usually faded into the background of his senses. "You have three… _four_?" He nodded, "Four more than usual." Naruto then looked to his father, "Those are only yours though. I think Genma's got one more, and I have no idea whose chakra _that_ is, but it feels like a Hyuuga. So… six."

A proud smile easily took over his father's face, "As always, your sensing is spot on. Danzo's going to eat his words."

Naruto frowned, "… What's Danzo got to do with this?"

"Ah, when your genin teams were being put together, I suggested that you and Sasuke be put on the same team, regardless of your rankings," his father explained. "Danzo was against the idea because he wasn't sure you were up to the challenge." Before Naruto could ask what challenge his father was referring to, the man selected a thin file resting on a stack of paper and handed it to his son. "What do you think of Sasuke's chakra?"

Looking down at the file, Naruto's eyes widened. For the first time, there was a surname attached to his teammate's name: _Uchiha Sasuke_. Judging by the wear on the file, it wasn't new. Naruto then realized that the six extra seals on his father's office were most likely in preparation for this very conversation.

Shit.

"Naruto?"

His head snapped up at the prompt, and he pushed aside the revelation— _the village is hiding that Sasuke's an Uchiha_ –to think about his teammate's chakra. "… His reserves are massive, way more massive than I thought they were." Naruto frowned, "It's not that I couldn't sense them at the Academy, he just… hid them?" He made a displeased face, "I forgot to ask him about it."

His father nodded, humming quietly. "Did you feel anything different while he was unconscious?"

"Not really," Naruto shook his head. "Just that his reserves are _huge_. I mean, he's not Uzumaki-level, but he's definitely up there." Pausing briefly, Naruto looked back down at the file in his hands. "… Did I miss something?" He looked back to his father, but the man only gestured to the file.

When Naruto opened the file, he couldn't help but gape. "The Leaf has another tailed beast?"

"No, we don't."

:: ::

Within minutes of returning to the village after a mission, Neji had been steered out of the Hyuuga compound by Yuuma with an order to check on Sasuke. His cousin hadn't given him many details, but as Neji hadn't been told to go to hospital, he figured his friend's first C-rank wasn't the cause of whatever it was that was wrong with him.

When he had arrived at the apartment, Toshio was out, and Sasuke was sitting on the floor in his room, leaning against his bed frame. When Neji saw the various books and scrolls pooled around his friend, he sighed quietly. As he moved to sit next to Sasuke, Neji didn't miss the trend in the reading material Sasuke had picked up: chakra control and… mythology? "Sasuke, I don't recall your chakra control being so abysmal that you required an overabundance of supplementary materials."

Sasuke had a hint of a smile as he looked to Neji, but the other was taken aback at just how _sad_ the smile was. Sadness was an emotion that didn't suit his friend in the slightest. "…Did Yuuma tell you what happened on my mission?"

Neji shook his head, "He told me that I should hear it from you." The only hint he'd gotten from his cousin was that he'd finally discover why exactly Sasuke's chakra pathway was so difficult to make sense of. It had been bothering him since the first time he'd ever looked at Sasuke with his Byakugan, but no one had ever given him a straight answer. His eyes were drawn back to the various writings about mythology. "… What happened, Sasuke?"

"I…" Sasuke shook his head, drawing into himself. "I found out that I'm an Uchiha."

As shocking as that piece of information was, Neji knew that wasn't the only thing bothering his friend. Any Hyuuga would say that the Uchiha clan had been certifiably insane when asked, but the logic behind it was shaky and most likely due to a rivalry between ocular techniques. Besides, as far as Neji was aware, Sasuke knew nothing of the late Uchiha clan that would cause him to be so upset about being a member of it.

No, Neji knew this was something more than his friend discovering his family history. "Sasuke… what _else_ happened?"

Sasuke looked him, unsure. Neji looked right back, patiently waiting. Finally, Sasuke sighed. "I… I'm a jinchuuriki. There's a _monster_ inside of me." His eyes pleaded with Neji not to hate him, and for the life of him, Neji didn't understand why.

A chakra monster would easily explain why Sasuke's chakra flowed through his pathways so oddly. However, Neji couldn't see the problem with his friend being a jinchuuriki. After all, the Hokage's wife was one as well. There was nothing blatantly negative attached to the title, unless… no. He refused to believe that line of reasoning, but he knew he had to make sure.

The was only one way Sasuke could have realized there was something sealed inside of him, and Neji braced himself before posing his next question, "… Did you kill anyone, when you lost control?"

"I almost did," Sasuke admitted quietly. "I don't remember most of the fight, just… blue chakra and broken ice mirrors." He drew into himself even more, "I saw his body though. Kakashi-sensei killed him in the end, but it was almost me."

"You don't trust yourself," Neji made the diagnosis reflexively. When his younger friend didn't correct him, Neji sighed. That explained the writings on chakra control. "Sasuke, you may have lost control, but you also _regained_ it. You didn't kill anyone, and you're not going to. Lady Kushina is a successful jinchuuriki, and you haven't done anything to make me believe you cannot be one as well."

Sasuke shook his head, "I passed out before I could get control back. Zore… he stopped me, but he told me that I have to cast judgment in his place."

"You _spoke_ to it?" Neji's eyes widened despite himself. He had no idea what kind of relationship jinchuuriki had with whatever was sealed inside them, but he doubted it was friendly enough that they could speak to each other.

"… Yes?" Sasuke's reply was hesitant, and he withdrew into himself even more, becoming even smaller before he spoke again. "What if he doesn't stop me next time? …What if he makes me kill someone?"

Neji wasn't trained for this. He wasn't a medic, he wasn't a counselor, and he'd only been a genin one year longer than Sasuke had been. Quite frankly, he had no idea what to say to his friend that could possibly make him feel better.

"…If my uncle really wanted to, he could kill me in seconds," Neji spoke quietly. He hated to admit it, but it was true. "He could kill Yuuma, Tokuma, every branch member. We have trust that he won't do that though. Whoever sealed Zore into you trusted you with whatever power it has, just like Lady Kushina is trusted with the power of the Nine Tailed Fox."

"Yuuma studies seals," Sasuke mumbled. "He trusts the main family as far as your Heavenly Spin reaches… and you still haven't figured out to fully form it."

Neji side eyed him in mild annoyance. "Not all of us can memorize techniques the second we see them."

Sasuke blinked owlishly, not seeing his point. "I can't do that either."

"Did you not awaken your Sharingan on your mission?" Neji raised a brow. How else would Sasuke have learned his was from the Uchiha clan? There wasn't exactly a plethora of members available to tell Sasuke in person.

Sasuke's eyes widened, "The Sharingan can _do_ that?"

Neji couldn't help but snort at the irony. The last living Uchiha didn't even know what he was capable of when he used their bloodline limit. His ancestors were probably rolling in their graves. "How do I know more about your clan than you do?" He smirked, "Maybe you should have picked up some history books as well."

"Weren't you supposed to be making me feel better?" Sasuke shoved him in annoyance, but his embarrassed flush was as brilliant as ever. "You've always sucked at this."

"The example with Lady Kushina still stands," Neji pointed out.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and went back to one of his scrolls, but a small smile was tugging at his lips. Neji would consider that an accomplishment in his book, at least compared to how sad the other had been when he'd first arrived.

"I have to ask though, Sasuke…" Neji picked up one of the books his friend had been reading. "Why mythology?"

"Lord Hokage said there aren't any mentions of dragons in recorded history," Sasuke replied with a shrug. "How else am I supposed to understand Zore?"

Once again, Neji's eyes widened in disbelief. "You have a _dragon_ inside of you?"

:: ::

In a small pocket of the Leaf's third training ground, Naruto sat with his father, sealing paper still untouched despite the two already having been there for three hours. Instead, Naruto had cycled through pages in a notepad as his father scrutinized every seal he wrote out. From exploding tags to basic storage seals, the Fourth Hokage watched how his son adapted the seals into various languages, making small corrections whenever he saw fit to do so.

When Naruto had finished his warm up, his father had instructed him to show him the seal he was most concerned about.

As Naruto carefully wrote out the seal he had been working on for the past few weeks, he had to steel his nerves. It was _stupid_ for him to feel the way he did, he was well aware, but as his father watched over his shoulder, Naruto couldn't help but feel the man's chakra steadily pulsing behind him. All he had ever wanted to do was genuinely impress the man. While Naruto's mother's clan that had been famous for their sealing techniques, it was his father who was hailed as a master in the field, the one who had revolutionized the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God seal during wartime.

Naruto had made his fair share of modified exploding tags over the years, playing harmless pranks that made family friends laugh when he was younger, but he'd never created something that was truly meant to be used in battle or on missions. He had no idea what kind of seal he could create that would leave an impact on the shinobi world short of inventing time travel, but he would still _try_ , damn it.

"Naruto… am I reading this right?" He had been trying to ignore how much closer his father's chakra had gotten to him while he'd been writing, but when he spoke, Naruto was all too aware of how _close_ his father was to him. Normally, that was a comforting feeling, but now? It made him even more nervous.

"Uh, that depends," Naruto said sheepishly, trying not to sweat. "What's it look like to you?"

"A chakra suppressant," was his father's careful reply. He quickly followed up on the guess as he further scrutinized the seal, "Your sealing language has always been a little difficult to understand though." An appreciative smirk came onto his face, "I've never seen anyone who feels chakra as deeply as you do."

Naruto couldn't help but snort. The sealing language his father had created was hardly any easier to understand. He'd had to watch his father channel his chakra into a seal to finally get how it worked. The way it flowed was simple and efficient, but most of his seals had intricate details with emotional significance that leant nothing to actual seal's construction. How his father managed that without tampering with the seal's intention, Naruto had yet to figure out.

"It's supposed to be an _outward_ suppressant," Naruto made a slight correction, still focused on his task. It was the most intricate seal he'd ever tried to create, and one misstep would ruin it entirely. "I'm also trying to scramble a chakra signature without _actually_ scrambling it. So technically, we could have a jounin-level Hyuuga with reserves that naturally feel like a civilian Nara's."

"Like a false set of finger prints…" His father trailed off, giving a low whistle of appreciation. "This could confuse sensors, increase the efficiency of espionage missions… and I'm sure that counterintelligence would _love_ to get their hands on something like this."

"If it works," Naruto muttered, writing out the last of the seal. "I mean, it _should_ work in theory. I just don't know if I'd have to key it to each individual chakra signature coming in and going out, or if I could write general seals for each output I'm trying to get and somehow convince everyone's chakra to flow through it the same way, like your standard issue exploding tag." He checked over the seal twice before handing it to his father to evaluate, watching the man with a baited breath.

"Mm… so these areas would be where you put the alterations for each signature?" Naruto nodded, and a slow smile spread across his father's face. He began to nod slowly as he carefully scanned each stroke. His eyes then narrowed in confusion, and he pointed to corner of the page, "Why do you have the chemical makeup of chakra induction paper written down here?"

"That's not part of the seal, it's just a reminder to try something later," Naruto explained sheepishly. "I don't know if it's possible, but I want to try and use this seal to trick it. Like, I could use the seal on myself and then channel chakra into the induction paper, and it would crinkle." He was unsure as he looked to his father, biting his lip lightly. "Do you think that's too much? I don't know how helpful it would be in actual practice, but I was thinking about the bloodline mess in the Hidden Mist, so I wondered if it was possible to hide something that biological."

His father shook his head with a chuckle, "You really are your mother's son. This is something that only her clan would think of attempting to figure out." He looked back to a section of the seal, trying to break it down. "Is this… _my_ chakra signature?"

"Yes?" Naruto replied hesitantly. His father gestured for him to elaborate, and Naruto did so in a hurried manner. "I'm sorry I didn't ask, but I was gonna use Mom's and try to mask the fox, but it was too hard to make two chakra signatures combine into the same signature without layering the seal, and that was gonna be a _major_ headache—"

"Naruto, it's fine," his father swiftly cut him off, an amused grin on his face. He looked back down at the seal, tracing the written description of his signature in barely concealed awe, "I'm just so impressed that you managed to break down my chakra and _write it down_. It's one thing to have chakra constantly flowing through a seal, but it's another thing entirely to make a _stamp_ of it without actually using chakra to do it."

Naruto's eyes were wide in disbelief, "You… you like the seal? _Really_?"

"What—yes _, of course_ I do!" Naruto could tell that his father was surprised he was even asking, and that in turn surprised Naruto even more. "The fact that you thought to create this seal the way you did, and the way you're trouble shooting it…" He looked his son in the eyes, pride radiating off of his smile like it was the sun, "Naruto, this is amazing, _you_ are amazing. I'm so proud of you."

Naruto couldn't think of anything to say in response. Five little words, and all he could do was grin like an idiot because his father wasn't just the Yellow Flash or the Fourth Hokage, the man was his _hero_ , and there he was, telling Naruto that he was _proud_ of him. His confidence was sky high, and his grin didn't fade once during the rest of sealing session.

:: ::

Sasuke didn't know if regret was the specific emotion he was feeling at that moment, but he was definitely feeling something similar to it.

He had asked Toshio to help him train during Kakashi's absence, telling his roommate about his plans to refine his chakra control as much as he could, and Toshio had been all for it. The chunin had promised that they would start the next morning, and sure enough, Sasuke had been woken up by a flash of white and a bright grin. The two had eaten breakfast together, and Sasuke had been greeted with the sight of Toshio gulping down four glasses of milk before he had been satisfied. Right after they had finished eating, Toshio had tossed Sasuke a vest and told him to put it on with the clothes he was going to wear to train.

That was when the regret had begun to sink in.

"… How am I supposed to move in this?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. He held up the dark vest, feeling less inclined to put it on the more he stared at it. The material was thick, the vest was bulky, and the entire thing probably weighed more than twice Sasuke's head did, maybe even three times as much. Sasuke's eyes flickered to the counter where a pair of wrist and ankle weights lay innocently, but he was willing to bet that they weighed more than a few pounds. He looked to Toshio, hoping that his roommate was playing some sort of joke on him. "I don't really have to wear all of this, do I?"

"Do you want to keep using your current fighting style?" Toshio asked in return, after a casual sip of his glass of milk. He had gone back for a fifth.

Sasuke frowned, taking mild offense at the question, "There's nothing _wrong_ with my fighting style."

"When you meet someone faster than you, there will be," Toshio swiftly promised. When Sasuke's frown began to morph into a protesting pout, Toshio sighed. He beckoned the younger boy over, setting the glass down on the counter. Toshio put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes, "Look, Sasuke. Your fighting style is successful because you're a contortionist who weighs absolutely nothing yet still somehow manages to pack a punch." At the petulant look Sasuke gave him, Toshio persisted, "You know I'm right. You're the tallest of your teammates, but I bet you weigh the least."

"I weigh more than Sakura," Sasuke grumbled. He wasn't even going to argue with Toshio about Naruto. The Hokage's son may have been the shortest person on the team, but it was obvious to anyone that Naruto would pack the heaviest punch. His body wasn't bulky, he was _twelve_ for crying out loud, but he didn't have the same type of lean muscle that Sasuke did.

The difference showed in their taijutsu styles. As evidenced by their battles in the Land of Waves, Naruto was the type of shinobi who would face his opponents head on. He was stubborn, and he would keep pushing until he got his way. It wasn't that he didn't think of strategies. Naruto just usually went in with a plan that allowed him to punch somebody's face in.

Sasuke was different. He and Toshio had learned early on that Sasuke was more flexible than the average shinobi, and at times, it bordered on the genin being circus ready. That caused his fighting to be more acrobatic in nature. Sasuke enjoyed flying through the air, twisting and turning in ways that shouldn't have been possible. He wasn't afraid to be in close combat because he knew that he could always find a way to get himself out of it, while Naruto wasn't afraid because he knew he could break his way through.

"Once you meet someone who's faster and stronger and you, you're going to be forced to twist and turn until you finally break all the rubber bones in your body." Toshio pet Sasuke's hair softly, giving him an earnest look, "I don't want that to happen, and that's why I'm making you do this. You're fast, but you could be faster. You're not the buff type, but you're strong. You could be stronger though."

Okay, so Toshio had a point. The fake hunter-nin wouldn't be the only person Sasuke would encounter with speed that outclassed his, bloodline limit or not. The second he met someone who had strength that matched their speed, Sasuke was dead. But still, those weights looked terrifying. "There's no way I'll be able to move my body the way I want to though," Sasuke said, the frown taking up permanent residence on his face. "I don't care if ankle and wrist weights slow me down, but this vest barely bends."

"And that's why we're going to stop by Daichi's parents' shop," Toshio grinned cheekily.

Sasuke blinked owlishly, "What?"

"I'm not dumb enough to make you train in something that goes against your fighting style," Toshio rolled his eyes. "Yuuma's gonna stop by the apartment after his shift at the hospital to pick this stuff up for Neji."

"This vest… is for _Neji_?" That made more sense, but still. "You told me to put it on."

"You're on board with weight training now, aren't you?" Toshio flashed him a sunny grin. "I achieved my goal for this morning. Now, let's go pick up your graduation gift that I'm glad you never brought up."

"You've been planning for this since _January_?" Sasuke raised a brow. Honestly, he had been faintly wondering what happened to his gift from Toshio. He'd never pushed his roommate on the matter because the bow he'd received from outside the village was more than he'd been expecting. If Toshio's teammate ever came back, Sasuke would thank him the second he saw the man.

Toshio shrugged, "Since November, but the Chunin Exams kind of got in the way." He cast Sasuke a curious glance, "The summer exams are in a few months... did Kakashi mention if your team's going to be entered yet?"

"He's never mentioned them," Sasuke shook his head. He briefly thought back to his team's mission in the Land of Waves, specifically the two chunin they had fought on their way out of the Land of Fire. They might have been able to defend themselves, but it had only been because Sasuke and Naruto had been waiting for them to attack. And besides, _Toshio_ was a chunin, and Toshio still scared the hell out of Sasuke when he came home without turning off what he referred to as his 'mission-mode.' Sasuke had been eight when he'd first seen it, and he'd gotten his fair share of nightmares because of the experience.

Sasuke didn't know if he was ready to be the same rank as Toshio. The gap between their abilities was still pretty big. "Aren't we kind of… _new_ though?"

"True, rookie genin are almost never entered in the summer exams," Toshio admitted with a nod. "But you survived against one of the Seven Swordsman and his apprentice, and you've got time to increase your speed if we plan this right. Lord Hokage's son is on your team, so we can't just assume you won't be entered." He stood up from the table, "Anyway, grab your bow and quiver, it's about time you learned how to use a storage seal."

:: ::

Toshio opened the door to the equipment shop with a flourish. "Daichi! 'Mori! I'm here to collect on a favor!"

Following Toshio inside, Sasuke's eyes were instantly drawn to the large amount of foreign goods and ornate weaponry displayed on the walls and lining shelves. It was odd though. The weaponry there didn't appear to be native to shinobi, and there was very little of it compared to the other goods in the first place. More than an equipment shop, it was an antique shop.

"You know, we're trying to run a _business_ , Toshio," a voice replied with a sigh. A tanned young man stepped out of a doorway behind a counter in the back of the room, curly brown afro bouncing lightly with each step. The look he gave Toshio was thoroughly unimpressed, "If we keep giving you favors, my parents are going to kill us."

"Your parents make enough money as it is, Daichi," Toshio waved dismissively. "I've never seen two civilians with no aristocracy so loaded." He then brought Sasuke in front of him, brandishing him to the other male, "Remember, this isn't even for me, it's for the baby. We're here to pick up an order from a century ago."

"Not a baby," Sasuke muttered softly, an embarrassed flush creeping up.

"You brought Sasuke-chan with you?" Another voice joined the conversation, and a fair-haired young woman came out of the same doorway Daichi did. Her light gray eyes seemed to dance with excitement as she smiled at Sasuke, "You're going to love it, I promise. I wrote the seals myself, and the material Daichi picked out bends like a _dream_."

"It better," Toshio gave a snort. "This cost me two C-ranks even with the discount you gave me." He pouted at the two, "Your vests weren't this expensive the last time I bought one."

"That's because weighted vests aren't supposed to bend, and Aimori's seals don't come cheap," Daichi replied dryly. "My parents thought I was crazy when I told them what you wanted." He quirked a brow at Sasuke, "Toshio's old vests are pretty solid for most shinobi when they start out with weight training. How weird is your fighting style that you twist around so much?"

Sasuke blinked owlishly, surprised by the direct address. "I…"

"If his bones were actually made of rubber, I wouldn't be surprised," Toshio said with a laugh. He patted Sasuke's shoulder gently, giving it a small squeeze. When Sasuke looked up at him, Toshio smiled reassuringly before looking back at his older friends, smiling winningly at the two. "Thanks for investing in his future."

Daichi rolled his eyes, "Of course." He turned around, beckoning for Toshio and Sasuke to follow him into the back room. "We open in an hour, so let's get this over with."

:: ::

A few days later, the genin of Team Seven met up at the training grounds. Kakashi was set to come back from the Land of Wind by the end of the week, and the three had figured that they should at least try to work on their teamwork in his absence.

Naruto had arrived earlier than usual, still walking on cloud nine because of his father's approval. He still wanted to figure out Sasuke's chakra signature, but his teammate used his chakra so little that it was almost annoying. Naruto would've cut him slack considering chakra control had to be difficult when two reserves were pooled inside you, but Sasuke had still managed to make his reserves feel a hell of a lot smaller than Naruto now knew they actually were.

Naruto had never even felt Sasuke's seal before, and that made no sense to him. His mother's seal was a near constant pulse in the back of his senses whenever she used her chakra, and the first time he'd met Gaara, the chakra leaking into his sand armor had been a sensory overload. But Sasuke? Naruto was numb to Sasuke's seal and the bird-snake hybrid that lurked behind it. Hell, he hadn't even realized Sasuke had more chakra than the average genin until his teammate had kept up with him when they were figuring out how to climb trees.

To be honest, it pissed him off more than a little bit.

He told himself that he would finally figure out why the fuck Sasuke wasn't on his radar as much as he should have been, but when Sasuke had shown up to the training ground with his clothing more muted than usual, Naruto had been distracted. He was carrying himself oddly enough that Naruto had to ask what had changed over the last week. As soon as Sasuke mentioned he was wearing seals, Naruto had demanded a demonstration while they waited for Sakura to show up.

"Reseal the first one," his hand traced down Sasuke's spine, searching for the transparent seals on the sleeveless dark gray turtleneck his teammate now wore. "I wanna see if I can feel the difference."

Sasuke nodded, and his hands cycled through a short seal sequence before he touched just below his collar bone. The added weight melted away into thin air, and Naruto grinned widely, "That's so cool." His brain was already running a mile a minute as he tried to mentally reverse engineer the seals that made it possible. He removed his hand from his teammate's back. "How long did it take her to get the seals done?"

"About a week," Sasuke replied, turning around to face Naruto. He slipped his blue t-shirt back on and pushed up his glasses. "She said that inking seals on clothes is harder than inking them on paper."

"It'll bleed like a bitch if you're not careful," Naruto hummed in agreement, scrutinizing the seals on his teammate's wrist guards. Now was as good a time to ask as any, so he looked up at his teammate questioningly. "Question, how do you mask your reserves like that?"

Sasuke raised a brow in question, and Naruto had a sickening feeling in his stomach as he explained. "I can easily tell you that Sakura's gonna be here in like, five minutes because her chakra sticks out to me. With you, I have to actually try and sense your chakra." He frowned, "Sakura's got smaller reserves than you, so it makes no sense." Never mind that when he sent out feelers for Sasuke's chakra, Naruto still came back with a blurry feeling of what his reserves looked like.

"I've never tried to mask my reserves before," Sasuke shook his head, and the sickening feeling got worse. If Sasuke wasn't the one doing it, then it was the bird-snake.

Shit.

* * *

.: I had to end this chapter early because it was getting too long. More on Naruto's sensing (or lack there of) in regards to Sasuke will hopefully happen next chapter. Sakura was also supposed to show up this chapter… whoops. :'D

The weighted seals on Sasuke's new gear require basic physics to understand. You either have to alter the mass or acceleration to increase the weight of something, and changing the gravitational pull of the earth is a bit too difficult :'D Instead, Aimori sealed away five ten pound (a little less than five kilograms) weights, but only allowed the mass to be released, condensed throughout the turtleneck and guards. I'd imagine something similar is how Lee's leg weights work because those are dense af.

And yes, in this story, sealing has various sealing languages. Each village has their own standard for basic seals like storage seals and exploding tags, but people who actively focus on sealing usually create their own language because higher-level seals requires a more personal understanding of chakra.

Aimori is half Hyuuga, half Yamanaka, hence only one Byakugan. Kishimoto made it canon with Itachi Shinden, so this is the life we're living :'D Daichi is, as mentioned, the son of civilians. They're in their early twenties and were in Toshio's class at the Academy.

 _word count: 6.540_

clock-nim :.


	6. Sense and Sensitivity

.: Long time no see. *sweats*

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. :.

* * *

Sakura sighed, resisting the urge to droop as she quietly entered the training grounds. She knew that she wasn't late, but as per usual, Naruto and Sasuke were already there, sitting by the wooden stumps and talking amongst themselves. They'd grown closer after the mission in the Land of Waves, and Sakura wanted to be jealous, but she couldn't bring herself to be. Her teammates had almost died together against an enemy that she'd barely even engaged with, so it was only natural that they'd bond over the experience without her.

It didn't make her feel any less excluded though.

As she got closer to her team and saw what exactly Naruto was showing Sasuke, jealousy began to bubble up despite her attempts to stamp it back down. It was an old, worn notepad that Naruto had carried around when they were still in the Academy. He never used it to take notes during lectures or as scratch paper during written exams. Instead, Sakura remembered seeing him write in it during breaks while his circle of friends talked around him. He'd never be completely out of the conversation, and sometimes he'd even write in it while laughing along with them.

Sakura had always wanted to know what was inside that notepad, but Naruto had deflected every person who'd ever asked him about it. Kiba would sometimes tease him about writing love letters to girls in higher years, but Naruto always took it in the kind of stride Sakura wished she had when people teased her about her forehead. He'd grin as bright as the sun, firing back a response that was innocent enough for any instructors present to be on his side and smart enough to put Kiba in his place.

As the son of the Hokage, Naruto was _different_ from everybody else, and Sakura had always admired him. He wasn't like a lot of the other guys who had dismissed the girls when the genders finally mixed in lessons. He never went easy on them in the spars, and if he ended up losing, he never made excuses. He was nice to just about everybody, he was open and honest, and it was a general consensus that he was loved by teachers and students alike.

Naruto was kind of perfect.

Sure, Sakura's opinion of him had changed after he'd gone up against Zabuza, but it'd only changed for the better. Naruto hinting at his insecurities made Sakura feel better about her own. It's not like her dad was the Hokage or anything, but with a friend as amazing as Ino, Sakura knew her faults all too well. She couldn't even begin to list the amount of times her mom had made an off handed comment about how _nice_ or _pretty_ or _ladylike_ Ino was, and how Sakura would do well to learn from her.

However, Ino had always been a friend, never a role model. Sakura kind of wished that Naruto could be both.

"Hey, guys," she gave them a small wave as she came up to the wooden stumps. Surprisingly enough, Naruto didn't close the notepad when she sat down in front of them. Instead he held out a small slip of paper to her. She looked over it curiously, and turned to her teammate when she realized it was blank. "Um, what is this, Naruto-kun?"

"Chakra induction paper," he explained simply. "I figured we should know each other's affinities." Naruto shrugged, "You never know when it'll be important." He handed a slip of paper to Sasuke as well. "All you have to do is channel your chakra, and it'll react based on your primary affinity."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully, and the slip of paper in his hands crinkled a moment later. He looked to Naruto, "What does that mean?"

"You have a lightning affinity," Naruto blinked owlishly at the crinkled paper. "That… is not what I was expecting to happen." He flipped to a new page into his notepad, writing quick notes with a thoughtful frown. He looked at Sakura expectantly, "Your turn."

"…Earth?" Sakura guessed as her paper turned to dust in her hands. Naruto nodded, writing down more notes. She craned her head to get a closer look, "What are you writing down?"

Naruto shrugged, "Just how your chakra feels." He didn't give her any other explanation, but he did around his notepad so Sakura could see it. When she got a good look at it though, she was properly perplexed.

The total lack of understanding was a new feeling for Sakura. She'd always been able to understand the Academy texts, or at the very least, she'd always known where to start in figuring it out. However, she had no clue with Naruto's writings, even though they were supposed to describe her chakra in some way. She knew that Naruto was learning how to seal, but these symbols were nothing like the seals they'd been shown at the Academy. She looked back to Naruto, intending to praise what she assumed to be a new sealing language, but he was grinning in amusement as he stared at her. "…What is it?"

His grin widened, "You don't understand any of it, do you?"

Sakura flushed, but she didn't lie, "No."

He laughed, and Sakura melted at the sound, warm and welcoming. "I figured. Sasuke didn't get it either." He shrugged, "Chakra and I are weird."

That meant Naruto was a sensor then? Sakura had heard of sensors before, but they were usually training to be trackers, not sealers. Then again, Naruto had been one of the most well-rounded at the Academy, he could probably succeed at whatever path he took. "What's your affinity, Naruto-kun?"

"Wind," Naruto replied easily. He enclosed a final slip of paper in his hands, but his eyes widened dramatically. Separating his hands, he revealed the square of paper, now soggy. "… No way."

"Are you sure that means wind?" Sasuke asked, peering at Naruto's hands carefully.

" _No fucking way_ ," Naruto repeated, staring at the soggy piece of paper in absolute bewilderment. He looked from the paper to his hands and then back to the paper, still trying to process what exactly had just transpired. "It was supposed to split."

"So, you actually have a water affinity?" Sakura asked carefully.

"No, I don't," Naruto shook his head resolutely. "This isn't right."

"But you said it reacts to your primary affinity," Sasuke pointed out.

"I don't care what I said, I _know_ I have a wind affinity," Naruto snapped. "My entire network was tested when I was like, four, and that shit doesn't just _change_."

Sasuke frowned, "I guess you _do_ have a weird relationship with chakra."

"Unless whoever tested you made a mistake?" Sakura offered. What was Naruto even doing getting his network tested? He was an Uzumaki, that clan was the pinnacle of health.

"Tsunade would be pretty pissed if she heard you say that." Naruto muttered. He took a deep breath and let it out with a huff. "Whatever. My chakra's weird, nothing new. I'll figure this shit out later." He flipped the notepad closed, and it disappeared with a small puff of smoke.

Sakura exchanged a careful glance with Sasuke. "… Are you okay, Naruto-kun?"

However, Sakura was reminded of their bell test earlier that year when, as if a flip had been switched, Naruto's negative mood disappeared. "Have you guys tried water-walking?"

:: ::

"That's _it_ ," Ino snapped in annoyance as she forced Sakura to the ground with a sharp kick to the gut. Incredulous, Sakura dragged her body up into a sitting position and looked to her friend in breathless question, obviously not expecting to be treated so roughly. Ino crossed her arms, unapologetic. "If you didn't actually want to spar, you could've told me."

Sakura slumped, "Sorry, there's a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, I can tell," Ino snorted, "You're thinking so loud that pretty I'm sure they can hear you over in the Hyuuga compound." Sakura flushed, and Ino went to join her on the ground, an amused smile on her face. She nudged the other girl gently, "What are you thinking about?"

Sakura shook her head, "I'm probably overreacting, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, _no_ ," Ino wasn't convinced. "You don't even like sparring, but you let me kick you around for almost half an hour. Something's bothering you." Sakura still wouldn't budge though, so Ino changed tactics, "… Is it about the nerd?"

"Naruto-kun is _not_ a nerd!"

"I've known him since we were in diapers, Sakura" Ino let out a laugh at her success. "He's always been a nerd. You're just too in love to notice."

"I'm not in _love_ with him!" Sakura protested, face flushed. "He's been acting weird lately, and I'm worried."

"Yeah, sure," Ino snorted dismissively. "Why else would you care that he's acting different than your daydreams? I always told you, he's not a more book-smart Kiba. Namikaze Naruto is a short, little nerd who'll talk your ear off about the intricacies of every sealing language in existence." She rolled her eyes, "Trust me, I know from experience."

"As his _teammate_ , I know something's wrong," Sakura insisted. She frowned, "That mission we had in the Land of Waves was already weird enough with that swordsman we faced." She shook her head with a sigh, "Now, though? Naruto's chakra is being weird, and he doesn't want to talk to Kakashi-sensei about it. We're supposed to start missions again next week, and it could jeopardize everything." She crossed her arms defiantly, "There's nothing wrong with caring about my teammates."

"There's something wrong with his _chakra_?" Ino gave her a friend a guarded look. She shook her head, "Uh uh, you gotta let that one go, Sakura. Naruto plus chakra issues equals time in the _hospital_."

" _What_?" Sakura's eyes widened. "Why would he automatically be in the hospital?" Sure, if his affinity really did change, Naruto might have to do some tests, but Ino didn't know that yet.

"Because chakra makes him sick?" Ino replied as if it were obvious. When Sakura's eyes widened even more, her own eyes became incredulous. "You're his teammate, and you didn't know?"

"I found out yesterday that he's a sensor, but no, I didn't," Sakura looked down, somewhat ashamed that she didn't know what was apparently something basic about her teammate. "He never mentioned it. And he's done techniques before," she looked back up at her friend in question, "he uses shadow clones all the time."

"The problem isn't his chakra," Ino shook her head, "it's everyone else's. I don't know how he deals with it now, or how he even got through the Academy to be honest, but when we were little, he was always sick because he's too sensitive."

"That's why his network got tested…" Sakura trailed off. "How sick was he?"

Ino sighed, thinking back. "Most clan kids start the Academy at five, but Naruto didn't start until he was seven, with the civilians." She bit her lip, debating whether or not she should continue, "No one really remembers anymore, but I can't forget because I saw his dad carry him out crying when he tried the first time."

"He was _crying_?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"Panic attack, too much chakra for him to handle, I guess," Ino shrugged helplessly. "Like I said, I don't know how he deals with it now, especially on your mission in the Land of Waves," she shook away all the memories she had of Naruto freaking out when they were younger. "But, if he's having problems with his chakra again… there's nothing you do about it, Sakura. Tsunade is his personal doctor for a reason."

Sakura frowned, but she didn't argue with Ino. The other girl was obviously concerned as well, despite her initial teasing. However, Sakura just couldn't form the mental image of Naruto as… weak. It had never seemed like there was anything wrong with him, and even if he was naturally sensitive to chakra, there was no way it could be that bad… right? Normal chakra, just pooling itself inside someone's body?

:: ::

Inside a medical examination room, Tsunade looked over the papers in her hand in bewilderment. She turned to the boy sitting on the examination table, "There's nothing wrong with you, Naruto."

"But there _has_ to be," Naruto protested. "Chakra affinities don't just change."

"I know that, but you're in perfect health," Tsunade explained, gesturing to the papers in her hands. She frowned, "How has your sensitivity been lately? Any headaches, nasuea, or anything similar? Have you experienced anything out of the ordinary?"

"Aside from the usual headache when jounin go wild in the training grounds… nothing," he sighed. "I wouldn't even _be_ here if I didn't use induction paper the other day. Chakra hasn't actually made me sick in years." He looked down at his hands, slumping down, "I don't know what's _wrong_ with me."

Tsunade frowned as she took in the boy before her. She knew far better than most about Naruto's struggle with chakra. He had a prodigious ability to sense anything it flowed through, but as his own chakra network grew, so did his sensitivity. Tsunade still remembered the first time Minato had brought him in, clueless as to what to do with the sobbing toddler when, after a few moments of general fussiness, he had burst into tears after being introduced to the other Kage. He had obviously been in pain, but there hadn't been a source anyone could find.

It had been Kushina's careful guess that the kage's power levels had played a part that sent them down a spiral looking through old Uzumaki clan texts for hypersensitivity to chakra. There wasn't much, not to the apparent degree that Naruto suffered. Almost everything they did to combat the pain was created as necessary. Between attempted kidnappings, Leaf-hosted chunin exams, and even deaths of people Naruto had grown attached to, the boy had seen the inside of the hospital more than any child his age should have, all because of how deeply he could feel other people's chakra. To see him back in her examination room, looking so helpless… it made Tsunade's heart ache.

"Your network hasn't matured yet," She began gently. "It's entirely possible that your primary affinity is water, but you hadn't grown into it when you were four."

"Then what happened to the _wind_?" Naruto asked desperately. "Affinities don't overtake each other." He rambled out the facts like they were a lifeline, "Everyone has a natural inclination to a certain element, and no matter how much they train in another element, they will still be able to reach a higher level with their primary affinity. Yeah, chakra is like a muscle, and if you don't use it, it'll atrophy, but I've been learning wind techniques all this time."

"Don't recite basic chakra theory," Tsunade cut in cleanly, her frown deepening. "You're stressed, I get it. I can do more invasive tests like I did before, but you won't get the results immediately. If you want me to clear or bar you from missions based on them, you'll have to wait."

Naruto looked to Tsunade carefully, "Do you think this has to do with what happened before?" He swallowed thickly, and she could see how he was already preparing for the worst. "The seals couldn't have done this, could they?

Tsunade sighed, "The only way to know for sure would to be to take them off and do more tests." She shrugged helplessly, "I can ask your father—"

"Don't," Naruto cut her off. "You can just take my blood and whatever else you wanna test. I'll figure it out." He shook his head, "You don't have to talk to him."

" _Naruto_ ," Tsunade said sternly. "You know how serious this could be. Those seals are the first of their kind on a network that's still maturing, and they might need to be recali—"

"Don't tell my dad," Naruto cut her off once again, those big blue eyes pleading with her. " _Please_."

Tsunade knew that she shouldn't give in to him. Naruto was a still a child, recent graduate or not, and he didn't know what was good for him. Just like everyone else his age, he was blinded by the desire to prove himself worthy of his new forehead protector. Naruto also knew his father was overprotective of him, understandably in Tsunade's opinion, but the boy would want to avoid triggering this aspect of his father's personality however he could. Tsunade knew all of this, but she found herself sighing in resignation

"… Fine. If nothing comes up in further tests, I won't tell your father." At the sigh of relief he let out at his words, she continued swiftly, "But if there's anything wrong, the slightest build up in your chakra points, an iron deficiency _, anything_ , I'm admitting you indefinitely." Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but she beat him to it. "And your father won't just find out, I'll make sure he takes those seals off you and _keeps_ them off until I've run all my tests. Do you understand me, boy?"

Eyes wide, Naruto nodded quickly, not saying a word.

"Good," Tsunade huffed. "Now give me your arm, I need to find a vein."

:: ::

Naruto dragged himself home, his body tired and sluggish.

Training had been fine that day. Kakashi had mostly left them to their own devices, allowing them to decide what personal skill they wanted to improve upon and gently nudging them in the right direction. Naruto had chosen to work on his sealing, and Kakashi had offered a shadow clone up as an observation dummy. It was a only mental strain, and Naruto was grateful for that because he'd spent the rest of his afternoon at the hospital.

Tsunade hadn't been kidding when she said she was going to do more invasive tests. Today had been the fourth and thankfully _final_ day she had spent putting Naruto's body through every test she could think of. Naruto had pretty much blanked out the last time he'd been tested this extensively, but he had a feeling Tsunade was going even further than she had gone back then. She was doing it because she cared, Naruto was sure, but that didn't mean he had to _enjoy_ being stuck with needles for three hours every day.

With a stifled groan, Naruto entered the Hokage Residence, not even bothering to give his usually cheeky greeting to the ANBU watching from the shadows. Zeroing in on his father's chakra, nestled inside his home office, Naruto plotted a course to his room that would avoid the man as best as possible. He knew his father could sense every inch of their home if he really wanted to, it was just a matter of whether or not Naruto looked suspicio—

"Just because you don't have to put effort into sensing me doesn't mean I can't find you in my own home," the dry amusement made Naruto flinch as his father's presence settled in behind him,

Well, that plan was a bust. Naruto turned around, giving his father an innocent grin, "Hi."

"Hi," the amused smirk said it all. His father returned the weighted kunai in his hand to it's place in the hallway before inclining his head, gesturing for Naruto to walk with him. "Is there a reason why you're trying sneak around the house?"

"I don't know if _sneak_ would be the right word," Naruto protested weakly. He made note of how they were definitely not heading to his bedroom and sighed, resigned to his fate.

"Really?" His father looked down at him with a raised brow. "Because I believe I know _exactly_ why you would actively try to avoid me."

"Oh," Naruto said quietly. Neither said anything else, and the two walked in silence until they reached his father's home office.

Inside, Naruto made a move to sit in one of the chairs facing his father's desk, but he was confused when his father shook his head, instead gesturing to the desk itself, oddly clear of most paperwork. Carefully, he eased himself onto the desk and looked to his father in a nervous expectance as the man stood opposite him. "Am I in trouble?" It didn't _feel_ like he was in trouble, but Naruto was never one hundred percent sure when it came to his father.

"No, you're not in trouble." Naruto would have relaxed if he didn't already know that being in trouble wasn't the only reason he could be getting a lecture that night. His father collected his thoughts before he began, "Inoichi came to my office today."

That… was not what Naruto had been expecting. He raised a brow in confusion, not quite sure where his father was going with this. "Why?"

"Ino's worried about you." Naruto's bewildered expression was met with a pointed look. "One of your teammates told her that your chakra was causing you problems. Embarrassingly, I had no idea what he was talking about. When I asked Kakashi, _he_ didn't know either." Naruto stilled, trying to look anywhere but at his father, not wanting to see what was definitely going to be a look of disappointment. "Not only did you not tell _me_ about this, you didn't tell your _jounin instructor_. Do you know dangerous that is, especially when your team has been cleared for C-ranks?"

Naruto spared a glance at his father, and yep, there it was, that look of disappointment. And now that he had met his father's eyes, he couldn't look away. "… I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Naruto," his father massaged his temples in exasperation. "The _only_ reason you're not in trouble is because you had the sense to go to Tsunade." He sighed, shaking his head before meeting Naruto's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me your affinity had changed?"

"I… I don't know," Naruto shrugged helplessly. It was stupid now that he thought about it. "Compared to everything else that's been wrong with my chakra, it seemed like a non-issue."

"Naruto, your affinity is _genetic_ ," his father stressed. "Nothing should be able to affect it unless your network is forced to adapt during development." He gave Naruto a pointed look, "We both know what that means."

Naruto wrapped his arms around his midsection instinctively, "Don't take them off." When his father didn't respond, a panic began to simmer inside him. "Dad, you _can't_. I-I don't wanna get sick again. And it'll be _worse_ this time." Naruto's chakra had grown an insane amount since he was a toddler. He didn't even have all of it at his disposal, and he was already hyperaware of his surroundings. Anything more and he'd probably go insane. "There's no way I could be a shinobi."

"I'd make you retire," his father agreed easily. "It would be too dangerous to send you into the field, and the amount of time it would take you to readjust to your chakra, _again?_ It wouldn't be worth it." He shrugged, "Lucky for _you_ though, your body's in perfect health."

"What?" Naruto stopped short, incredulity overtaking his panic. "You _just_ said it was a genetic issue if my affinity changed."

"I did, but your primary affinity is still wind," he informed Naruto, reaching beside him for a small bundle of papers. "Tsunade gave me copies of all the results she has as of today. According to just about everything in your body, water is a likely _secondary_ affinity, which makes sense. It's your mother's primary."

Naruto shifted through the test results in disbelief. He shook his head, looking back up at his father, "How did I trick the induction paper?"

"That is more speculation than concrete fact," His father winced. "Tsunade's current theory is that whatever part of you that makes you hypersensitive to chakra is somehow linked to your affinity. The village no longer has an expert geneticist," he carefully concealed his annoyance at this, "but Tsunade's looking into it. Somehow, the seals are drawing out the water properties of your chakra when you use it." He shook his head, "I have no idea how I managed that, but it's harmless, thankfully."

Naruto let out a relieved sigh as he looked back down at the results, reading all of Tsunade's notes carefully, "But why can't I feel the bird-snake?"

"You can't feel Zore?" His father looked at him carefully. "Sasuke's not actively masking its chakra, is he?"

Naruto shook his head, slowly. He watched as his father closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. He walked around his desk, settling down in his chair before he gave Naruto a somber look, "You need to tell me everything you have ever sensed about Sasuke, in detail."

It was going to be a long night.

:: ::

The way Naruto was eyeing her as she approached the wooden stumps that morning made Sakura feel more than a little bit uncomfortable. He and Sasuke had been sitting by the stumps and talking to each other like they usually did, but the moment she had stepped into the clearing, Naruto had looked up at her.

"What _I_ wanna know," Naruto began when Sakura was close enough, tilting his head up to meet her eyes, "is why you told Ino about my chakra."

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," Sakura flushed guiltily. How Naruto had found out, she had no idea, but was it really such a bad thing that she had told someone else? Ino had mentioned Tsunade, and it wasn't like a medic that talented wouldn't eventually figure out something was wrong.

Naruto shook his head, a tight grin on his face, "That's not what I asked, Sakura."

Sakura flushed that much more and looked to Sasuke, but her other teammate was pointedly not taking part in the conversation. He was all too interested in Naruto's chakra notes, even though Sakura knew he couldn't understand any of it any better than she could.

Fine, she was on her own.

Steeling her nerves, she looked Naruto in the eyes, "I was worried about you. You were obviously bothered, but you didn't want to tell Kakashi-sensei." She crossed her arms defiantly, "And I didn't tell Ino on purpose, she guessed."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Of course did, the damn witch." Sasuke gave him a nudge when he didn't say anything else, and he huffed. "Ino told her dad, and her dad told _my_ dad." He looked off to the side, "He gave me a lecture about endangering the team, and I'm sorry."

"You're _sorry_?" Sakura echoed.

Naruto nodded, a bit sheepish, "Yeah. You were right to worry, and even if you didn't mean to, you were right to tell someone like Ino, who can't keep her mouth shut." Sasuke nudged him again, and Naruto muttered something she didn't catch, but it made a smile flicker across Sasuke's face. "And besides," a light flush crawled up Naruto's neck, "I should know better than to try and keep issues with my chakra a secret." His grin was apologetic, his eyes were earnest, and Sakura was melting, "I shouldn't have treated my teammates like they didn't deserve to know, so I'm sorry."

"Why are you so _cute_?" Sakura groaned. It wasn't _fair_. Why did Naruto know how to look good while making an apology?

Naruto quirked a brow, his grin turning mischievous, "Does that mean you forgive me?"

Sakura's eyes widened, "I didn't just do that."

"You definitely did," Sasuke informed her quietly.

She coughed, trying to force her embarrassed flush down by sheer force of will. "Well, you can consider yourself forgiven if you tell me what's wrong with your chakra."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," Naruto admitted with a laugh. He took his notepad from Saskuke and flipped through the pages before he found what he was looking for. He glanced up at her, "You can sit down, you know."

"And _I_ forgot about _that_ ," Sakura said with a laugh of her own as she joined her teammates on the ground, sitting down next to Naruto as he put the notepad down in front of him.

Naruto gestured to what Sakura assumed was a seal, intricate in its design and nearly taking up the entire page. "This seal is supposed to change how your chakra appears to other people. I've always wondered whether it was possible to trick even chakra induction paper." He cleared his throat, "Apparently, it is."

"So you're okay?" Sakura clarified, "Nothing's wrong with your chakra?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nothing I'm not already used to."

Sakura didn't know how she felt about that answer, but she didn't want to ruin the moment.

The three of them stayed by the stumps until Kakashi arrived, Naruto explaining how various seals worked. He was going into detail about how storage seals could be altered when their jounin instructor strolled into the training grounds a few hours earlier than usual. As a result, he didn't greet the team with a lazy excuse about being lost on the road of life. Instead, he crouched down in front of Naruto, staring at him with his visible eye curved into a crescent. Despite happy expression, Sakura doubted he would have anything kind to say.

She wasn't proven wrong.

"If you _dare_ to make me look _that_ irresponsible in front of your dad _ever_ again, I'll take Gai up on his offer to swap teams for a day and only send _you_ ," his voice was as cheerful as ever, but it made Sakura's blood run cold for reasons she couldn't understand. Kakashi reached up to ruffle Naruto's hair, "Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded quickly, "Yes, sir."

"And the next time your chakra is causing you any type of concern, what are you going to do?" Kakashi cooed.

"Tell my jounin instructor," Naruto followed up swiftly.

"Good boy," Kakashi pet his head lovingly. "You're doing chakra control exercises for the next week."

:: ::

Two weeks later, Team Seven reported to the Hokage's office bright and early for their first mission since the Land of Waves.

"What'cha got for us, Dad?" Naruto asked with an eager grin. He was more than ready to get out into the field again. Tsunade hadn't made much progress on the issue with his affinity, but she had officially cleared him to take part in missions a little more than a week ago, and he was excited. He tossed an arm around Sasuke's shoulder casually, "Whatever it is, we're gonna kick ass." He cast a mischievous grin to their final teammate, "Right, Sakura?"

"Right," Sakura nodded determinedly.

"I'm sure you'll make the village proud," his father wore an amused smile. However, a quick glance at the mission scroll on his desk caused a professional demeanor to wash over him. "Over the last few months, a traveling show known as Flexile has been making its way through various countries. They specialize in artistic interpretations of the shinobi lifestyle."

At the skeptical gaze Naruto sent his way, he explained further, "It's popular with civilians." His father then frowned, "Unfortunately, there have been reports of missing children, aged anywhere from ten to sixteen, a few days after every show."

Naruto's arm slipped off of Sasuke's shoulder in shock as he and his fellow genin's eyes went wide. His father shook his head, "We're not sending you in to shut down a kidnapping ring. Not only is it above this team's skillset, it's also outside of the Leaf's jurisdiction. The Land of Lightning is the only major country Flexile has performed in, so the Hidden Cloud will be handling that aspect." He held up a picture, "Hagoromo Aiko, an apprentice at the Kirin Temple in the Land of Lightning, went missing shortly after going to the show."

"… She's an Uzumaki." It was in no way a question. Aiko may have had tan skin and amber eyes, but the long red braid instantly reminded Naruto of his mother. He raised a brow, "What's an Uzumaki doing in Lightning territory? Cloud tried to _kidnap_ Mom because of her chakra."

"That's true," his father agreed. "However, the Kirin Temple has been a neutral party since the founding of shinobi villages. They filed the mission with the Leaf because they know we'll complete it honorably."

Naruto filled in the blanks, "Because of Mom."

"And _you_. Team Seven will handle Aiko's rescue to show that no matter where its descendants are, the Whirling Tides will always have an alliance with the Leaf." He handed the mission scroll over to Kakashi. "Based on what the Kirin priests learned from their own investigation, Aiko's kidnapping may have not have happened by chance. _He_ , like many others that were taken, are noncombatants with the potential to become powerful shinobi."

At the stressed pronoun, Naruto's head jerked to reevaluate the photo Kakashi had been handed.

"You want us to go undercover… and attempt to be kidnapped?" Sakura asked carefully. She looked to Kakashi, "How would we make that a certainty?"

"With my espionage seal," Naruto made the connection easily, eyes still lingering on Aiko's picture. He looked up, "If we layer it on top of a transformation, we can create covers that'll make whoever's behind this want to snatch us." It would be easier to send civilian-born chunin, but Naruto knew it was a better political gesture to send an Uzumaki, however inexperienced he may be, to rescue his distant cousin.

"That is what we'll be anticipating," his father nodded his agreement before readdressing the entirety of Team Seven, "Remember, your only objective is to free Hagoromo Aiko from his captors. Anything else, leave for Cloud to deal with. The Kirin priests filed a B-ranked mission due to Aiko's ancestry, but encounters with shinobi aren't anticipated." Minato leaned back in his chair, a teasing smile ghosting across his lip, "This time, try not to run into missing-nin acting as mercenaries, okay?"

"We'll do our best, Minato-sensei," Kakashi simpered behind his mask.

"I'm sure you will," he chuckled in reply. "Team Seven is dismissed." Naruto's father then met eyes with him briefly, and the silent message to remain in his office was passed on.

Kakashi bowed out, Sakura and Sasuke diligently following their jounin instructor out of the Hokage's office, not thinking much of their final teammate staying behind. Naruto stood before his father quietly, waiting. Because of the mission details, Naruto had idea of what was about to happen, but he hoped he was wrong.

After a moment, his father beckoned him closer to his desk and held out a three-pronged kunai, "Don't hesitate to use this."

Naruto wore a small frown as he accepted the weighted kunai. He already knew that it wasn't the traditional kunai used in his father's signature technique. This one had a layered seal, keyed to Naruto's chakra signature. It didn't need to be thrown for his father to be alerted, only met with a chakra-infused touch. It was a minute change to younger shinobi, but anyone who lived long enough to become a parent understood the logic.

This kunai wasn't mean summon the Yellow Flash to battle, it was meant to tell a father that his son was in danger.

Naruto hadn't carried the kunai since he was ten, and it was almost insulting to get it back when he was about to leave for a mission. "I won't need this," he said, a teasing smile sliding onto his face. "I'm only getting fake kidnapped, remember?"

"Don't hesitate to use it," Minato repeated, and the smile fell from Naruto's face at his father's tone of voice.

"I won't need it," Naruto repeated. He appreciated the concern, he really did. However, he wasn't a little kid anymore, and he knew that his father knew that. "You wouldn't send me on this mission if you didn't think I could do it."

"I didn't send you to the Land of Waves anticipating a run in with one of the Seven Swordsman either," his father replied evenly.

"Things change," Naruto forced a casual shrug. "Besides, you're the _Hokage_ , you can't just disappear."

"I did it when you were eight, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Minato gave his son a sad smile. "Promise me. You'll use it if you need to."

"… Okay, I promise," Naruto pocketed the kunai. He gave his father a look, "But when I come back perfectly fine, Mom's gonna laugh at you for worrying about me." A grin tugged at his lips, "And my brother's gonna be giggling from the womb."

* * *

.: For a Sasuke-centric story, he didn't show up much this chapter… whoops. I hope this gives a better understanding as to Naruto's character differences. I don't know how similar he is to Boruto because I don't keep up with the next gen stuff, but I like to think he's different than my first impressions of ye olde burrito lol

Also Sakura's character… She does _not_ have a crush on Naruto, but she is very much an intellectual who is weak to a pretty face. I have legitimate plans for her that don't follow canon, so bear with me as I plant seeds for her.

Oh, and I just realized my tags are a mess and misleading, so I've fixed those.

Next chapter we will meet Aiko, a boy with a very feminine name because younger me was confused by baby naming sites and didn't realize Aiko is only used as a male name in Scandinavia. I would change it, but I'm attached, so a boy named Aiko he shall stay :'D

 _word count: 6.089_

clock-nim :.


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